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UNIVERSITY   OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Received ^-.y/rfe'^C'^.  iSSJb 

Accessions  No.  -*~-J  50&         Shelf  No. 

Ofr -SO 


THE    QUESTION    OF   A    DIVISION    OF   THE 
PHILOSOPHICAL    FACULTY. 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS 

On  Assuming  the  Rectorship  of  the  University  of  Berlin, 

DELIVERED  IN  THE  AULA  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 
On  October  15,  1880, 


DR.    AUGUST   WILHELM    HOFMANN, 

ii 

Professor  of  Chemistry. 


SECOND  EDITION, 
"WITH     AN     APPENDIX 

CONTAINING 

TWO  OPINIONS  ON  THE  ADMISSION  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  GRADU- 
ATES OF  REALSCHULEN,  PRESENTED  TO  HIS  EXCELLENCY, 
THE  ROYAL  MINISTER  OF  PUBLIC  INSTRUCTION,  BY 
THE  PHILOSOPHICAL  FACULTY  OF  THE  ROYAL 
FREDERICK^wrEffi0^Ca*CfERSITY.  IN 


PUBLISHED   BY   GINN,    HEATH,   &   CO. 
1883. 


HI 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1883,  by 

GINN,  HEATH,  &  CO., 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


J.  S.  Cushing  &  Co.,  Printers,  115  High  Street,  Boston. 


'ttitivbrsity; 

s,  OB  v" 

DDUCTIOl 


The  Inaugural  Address  of  Professor  Hofmann,  the  distin- 
guished Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Berlin, 
which  is  here  translated,  deals  chiefly  with  a  question  which 
excites  great  interest  and  no  little  controversy  in  the  German 
Universities,  and  will,  it  is  hoped,  interest  all  in  this  coun- 
try who  are  devoted  to  the  educational  problems  of  the  day. 
The  question  of  dividing  the  great  Philosophical  Faculty,  which 
has  long  been  the  pride  of  the  German  University,  collecting 
and  cherishing  all  the  numerous  Sciences  which  do  not  belong 
to  Theology,  Law,  or  Medicine,  and  of  putting  in  its  place  one 
Faculty  of  Letters  and  one  of  Mathematics  and  the  Physical 
and  Natural  Sciences,  is  a  question  which  cuts  deeply  into  the 
very  fibre  of  modern  education  ;  and  the  action  of  Germany  in 
dealing  with  it  cannot  fail  to  be  weighty  and  lasting  in  its  effect 
on 'the  education  of  the  world.  This  Address,  however,  as  Pro- 
fessor Hofmann  remarks,  owes  its  general  interest  mainly  to  its 
discussion  of  a  question  closely  connected  with  the  principal 
subject, —  that  of  admitting  students  to  the  Universities  without 
the  literary  training  which  a  German  Gymnasium  affords,  and 
especially  without  a  knowledge  of  Greek.  The  history  of 
this  question  in  Germany,  particularly  the  active  part  taken  in 
it  by  the  University  of  Berlin,  may  be  new  to  many  in  this 
country  who  are  interested  in  the  future  of  classical  studies. 

A  decree,  issued  at  Berlin  on  December  7,  1870,  by  the  Royal 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  Dr.  von  Miihler,  granted  to  sub- 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

jects  of  Prussia  who  had  completed  the  full  course  of  study  in 
a  Realschule  of  the  first  rank  the  right  of  matriculation  in  the 
Philosophical  Faculty  of  any  Prussian  University,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  studying  Mathematics,  the  Physical  and  Natural  Sci- 
ences, or  Modern  Foreign  Languages.  By  this  removal  of 
restrictions  which  heretofore  had  practically  barred  the  way  to 
University  studies  for  those  who  had  not  received  their  prepara- 
tory training  at  a  Gymnasium,  a  new  set  of  requisitions  for  admis- 
sion was  recognized,  and  a  new  element  was  introduced  into  the 
Universities.  The  Prussian  Realschule  of  the  first  rank,  as  com- 
pared with  the  Gymnasium,  entirely  dispenses  with  Greek  in  its 
course  of  study,  reduces  the  time  devoted  to  Latin  by  very 
nearly  one-half,  introduces  English,  gives  greater  attention  to 
German,  doubles  the  time  devoted  to  French,  more  than 
doubles  that  given  to  the  Physical  and  Natural  Sciences,  and 
increases  that  allotted  to  Mathematics  by  nearly  one-half.1 

The  decree  of  1870  had  been  preceded  in  1869  by  a 
note,  addressed  by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruction  to  the 
Faculties  of  the  various  Universities  in  Prussia,  asking 
their  opinion  upon  the  question  whether  young  men  who  had 
received  their  preparatory  training  in  a  Realschule  should  be 
admitted  to  the  Universities,  and,  if  they  were  admitted,  under 

1  The  following  tallies,  extracted  from  "Wiese's  Verordnttngen  und 
Gesetzc  fiir  die'  kbktren  Schulen  in  Preussen,  second  edit.,  1S75,  PP*  3& 
and  44,  will  furnish  the  means  for  a  more  specific  comparison,  and  show 
at  the  same  time  what  is  the  RealsckuU,ta  the  training  of  which  the  Berlin 
Faculty  object.  The  German  boy  regularly  has  completed  his  ninth  year 
when  he  enters  the  sixth  and  lowest  class  of  the  Gymnasium  or  Realschule. 
lie  leaves  it  regularly  at  eighteen.  In  the  following  tables,  I.  and  II. 
and  generally  III.  represent  two  years'  study  each  ;  the  others  represent 
single  years :  — 


INTRODUCTION. 


what  restrictions  this  should  be  done.     The  answers,  taken  as  a 
whole,  were  distinctly  opposed  to  the  Minister's  implied  pro- 


General  Plan  of  Studies  of  the  Prussian    Gymnasium. 


Religion 

German 

Latin 

Greek 

French    

History  and  Geography      .     . 

Mathematics 

Physics 

Natural  History 

Drawing 

Writing 

Total  number  of  hours  in 
each  week 


VI. 

V. 

IV. 

III. 

II. 

I. 

3 

3 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

3 

IO 

IO 

IO 

10 

10 

8 

6 

6 

6 

6 

3 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

3 

3 

3 

3 

4 

3 

3 

3 

4 

1 

4 
2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

3 

3 

28 

30 

30 

30 

30 

30 

General  Plan  of  Studies  of  the  Prussian  Realschtile  of  the 
First  Rank. 


Religion 

German 

Latin 

French    

English 

Geography  and  History      .     . 
Physical  and  Natural  Science . 

Mathematics 

Writing 

Drawing 

Total  number  of  hours  in 
each  week 


VI.      V.      IV.     III.      II.        I 


31 


32 


32 


32 


32 


No  account  is  taken  in  the  above  plans  of  the  hours  given  to  Singing 
and  Gymnastics,  or  to  Hebrew  in  the  Gymnasium.  The  time  so  devoted 
falls  either  wholly  or  in  part  outside  of  the  regular  school  hoim. 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

posal.  The  decree  was  nevertheless  issued,  and  went  into 
immediate  effect.  The  reply  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty 
at  Berlin  is  given  in  the  Appendix  (pages  39-43  of  this 
translation). 

The  interest  in  the  experiment  thus  set  on  foot  was  not 
confined  to  Prussia.  For  the  proposition  that  the  study  of  the 
Classics  is  the  best  preparatory  training  for  the  higher  studies  of 
the  University  has  been  widely  combated.  This  question  has 
been  for  years  the  subject  of  lively  discussion  in  our  own 
country,  where  there  have  not  been  wanting  doubters  who  have 
assailed  the  value  of  the  Classics,  and  especially  of  Greek,  as  an 
educational  instrument,  sometimes  with  fierce  impatience,  some- 
times with  clever  derision.  It  is,  therefore,  a  fact  of  the 
highest  interest  and  importance,  that  this  experiment  of  admit- 
ting students  to  the  University  without  Greek  has  been  tried 
for  ten  years  in  the  foremost  University  of  Germany,  and  that 
we  have  a  unanimous  opinion  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty  of 
that  University  upon  the  change,  deliberately  given  at  the  end 
of  this  period.  It  is  especially  interesting  to  all  friends  of 
classical  studies  to  find  that  the  emphatic  condemnation  of  the 
change  which  was  expressed  by  the  Faculty  when  it  was  pro- 
posed in  1869  is  reaffirmed  in  still  stronger  terms  by  the 
Faculty  of  1880.  And  what  an  array  of  names  famous  in  all 
the  various  departments  which  Germany  includes  in  her  hospi- 
table "  Philosophiscbe  Facultat " —  in  the  Physical  and  Natural 
Sciences,  History,  Philology,  and  Literature,  as  well  as  in 
Philosophy  proper —  is  appended  to  these  memorials  !  As  the 
Rector  reminds  his  readers,  death  had  reaped  a  sad  harvest 
between    1S69    and    1S80  among    the   distinguished  men  who 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

signed  the  first  Opinion,  and  the  Faculty  had  been  largely 
recruited  by  the  introduction  of  younger  men.  The  names  of 
Dove,  Haupt,  Magnus,  von  Raumer,  Rose,  and  Trendelenburg 
have  disappeared,  and  the  Faculty  appears  much  increased  in 
numbers  in  1880.  But  the  views  of  the  Faculty  of  1869  still 
remain  those  of  the  Faculty  of  1880. 

This  Opinion  of  1880  (pages  47-56  of  this  translation), 
which  a  distinguished  American  scholar  has  forcibly  called 
"the  most  powerful  plea  ever  made  in  behalf  of  classical 
studies,"  was  first  made  public  in  1881,  as  an  appendix  to  the 
second  edition  of  Professor  Hofmann's  Address.  In  the  Ad- 
dress itself,  Dr.  Hofmann  presents,  with  great  clearness  and 
vigour,  the  claims  of  the  Gymnasium  as  affording  the  best 
means  of  preparation  for  higher  studies.  It  is  deeply  signifi- 
cant that  a  scholar  of  such  authority,  a  scholar  who  has  made 
his  great  achievements  mainly  in  the  field  of  the  Physical 
Sciences,  should  announce  his  unhesitating  belief  "that  all 
efforts  to  find  a  substitute  for  the  Classical  Languages,  whether 
in  Mathematics,  in  the  Modern  Languages,  or  in  the  Natural 
Sciences,1  have  been  hitherto  unsuccessful ;  that,  after  long  and 
vain  search,  we  must  always  come  back  finally  to  the  result  of 
centuries  of  experience,  that  the  surest  instrument  that  can  be 
used  in  training  the  mind  of  youth  is  given  us  in  the  study  of 
the  languages,  the  literature,  and  the  works  of  art  of  classical 
antiquity." 


1  Throughout  this  translation  the  word  Naturwissenschaften  has  been 
rendered  Natural  Sciences.  It  is  a  term  of  broad  application,  covering 
what  would  be  more  accurately  designated  as  the  Physical  and  Natural 
Sciences. 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

The  present  translation,  which  is  published  with  the  consent 
and  approval  of  the  author,  was  begun  last  winter,  but  circum- 
stances have  delayed  its  appearance  until  now.  It  was  made 
in  the  first  instance  by  Henry  A.  James,  Esq.,  of  New  York. 
It  then  became  my  pleasant  duty  to  read  the  proofs,  and  this  I 
have  done  with  no  less  care  than  interest.  We  have  aimed  to 
render  the  Address  and  the  two  Opinions  into  English  with 
strict  accuracy ;  and  in  the  Notes,  which  involve  much  that  is 
technical  and  difficult  of  expression,  we  have  besides  made 
especial  effort  to  use  terms  that  shall  be  easily  intelligible. 

John  Williams  White. 

Cambridge,  October,  1883. 


PREFACE. 


The  author  of  the  Inaugural  Address  which  is  now  repub- 
lished, though  it  has  appeared  previously  either  entire  l  or  in 
part2  in  periodical  publications,  labours  under  no  misappre- 
hension of  the  circumstances  to  which  it  owes  the  honour  of 
a  second  edition.  It  is  not  the  subject  of  the  Address  itself 
which  has  awakened  interest  in  wider  circles,  but  a  question 
standing  in  close  connection  with  this  subject,  though  only 
subordinately  touched  upon  in  the  Address,  and  that  is,  whether 
the  Reahchule  of  the  first  rank  affords  as  advantageous  a  prepa- 
ration as  the  Gymnasium  for  University  studies.  The  author, 
relying  upon  his  own  experience,  has  answered  this  question 
decidedly  in  the  negative. 

That  there  are  many  who  do  not  share  his  opinion  is  a  fact 
of  which  he  has  been  made  aware  in  no  doubtful  manner  by 
the  thorough  discussion  which  the  matter  has  received  in  the 
public  press.  From  all  directions  and  in  the  most  varying 
forms,  the  cause  of  the  Reahchule  of  the  first  rank  has  been 
taken  up  with  great  vigour,  and  statistics  have  been  adduced  to 
place  in  the  most  favourable  light  the  results  of  the  preparation 
afforded  by  it  for  University  studies.  Moreover,  party  zeal  has 
been  by  no  means  confined  to  those  immediately  interested  in 

1  La  Question  da  Sectionnement  de  la  Faculte  Philosophique.  Revue 
Internationale  de  l'Enseignement.  Red.  par  M.  Edmond  Dreyfus-Brissac. 
I.  152. 

2  Zeitschrift  fur  das  Gymnasialwesen,  XXXV.  p.  1.     Berlin:   1881. 


2  PREFACE. 

the  Realschule,  who,  we  may  say,  enter  the  lists  pro  domo  ;  but 
in  the  heart  of  the  Universities  themselves  influential  voices 
have  taken  up  the  argument  in  favour  of  the  Rcalschule  system 
of  instruction. 

In  view  of  so  many  concurrent  expressions  of  opinion,  one 
might  almost  suppose  that  the  conclusion  to  which  the  author 
has  been  led  by  his  own  experience  is  shared  by  but  few. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  seems  desirable  that  wider  cir- 
culation should  be  given  to  the  views  which  the  Faculty  of  the 
University  in  this  city  expressed  on  an  earlier  occasion,  and 
which  they  have  recently  reaffirmed. 

When  the  Philosophical  Faculty  of  this  University  in  the 
year  1869,  in  common  with  the  Faculties  of  all  other 
Prussian  Universities,  was  called  upon  by  His  Excellency,  Herr 
von  Miihler,  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  "  To  report  whether 
and  to  what  extent  graduates  of  Reahchulen  should  be  admit- 
ted to  the  departments  of  the  Universities,"  it  declared  itself 
most  decidedly  opposed  to  such  admission.  This  declaration 
has  been  made  public  in  the  official  printed  copy  of  the  Opin- 
ions rendered  at  that  time.1 

In  the  beginning  of  the  past  year  the  Faculty  took  up  this 
subject  anew,  induced  thereto  by  a  motion  offered  by  one  of 
its  members,  Professor  Droysen.  The  motion  proposed  by  that 
gentleman  under  date  of  December  18,  1879,  and  strongly 
supported  both  by  statistics  and  by  a  clear  presentation  of  all 
the  facts,2  runs  as  follows  :  — 

"To  present  to  his  Excellency,  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction,  the  request  that  he  subject  to  renewed  consider- 
ation the  question  of  the  further  admission  of  graduates  of 
Reahchulen  to  the  University." 

1  Akademischc  (lutachtcn  iibcr  die  Zulas.sung  von  Realschul-Abituri- 
cnten  zu  Facultats-Studien.     Berlin:   1870. 

2  For  the  following  statistical  reports,  which  have  been  made  somewhat 
more  complete,  I  am  Indebted  to  the  kindness  <>f  Ilcrr  Kaiuleirath  Skopnik, 


PREFACE.^ 


The  Faculty  could  not  refuse  to  consider  the  question  so 
earnestly  presented  by  Droysen,  and  immediately  commissioned 


who  very  obligingly  compiled  them  from  the  records  of  our  University. 
They  furnish  unmistakable  proof  that  the  preparatory  training  for  the 
University  is  to-day  essentially  different  from  what  it  was  a  few  years  ago. 

Total  number  of  Prussian  Students  in  the  Philosophical  Department  in 
Berlin  ivho  had  Diplomas  from  Preparatory  Schools. 


With  a 

With  a 

Percentage 

Total. 

Gymnasium 

Realschule 

of 

Diploma. 

Diploma. 

Realsch'iiler. 

Winter-Sem. 

1875-76 

616 

465 

151 

24.51 

(«              u 

1876-77 

749 

544 

205 

27-37 

tt           tt 

1877-78 

818 

580 

238 

29.09 

tt           tt 

1878-79 

976 

664 

312 

31.96 

tt                  U 

1879-80 

1167 

762 

405 

34-70 

From  these  figures  it  appears  that  the  number  of  Realschiiler  among  the 
Prussian  students  in  Berlin  who  had  diplomas  rose  in  five  years  from  24.5 
to  34.7  per  cent.  A  still  more  striking  result  is  shown  if  we  compare  with 
one  another  the  numbers  of  the  new  matriculates  from  the  Gymnasia  and 
the  Realschulen  in  each  Semester. 

Ntimbcr  of  Prussians  newly  matriculated  in  the  Philosophical  Department 
of  the  University  of  Berlin  on  presentation  of  a  Diploma. 


With  a 

Gymnasium 

Diploma. 

With  a 

Realschule 

Diploma. 

Proportion  of  Gymnasiasts 
to  Realschiiler. 

Gymnashim. 

Realschule. 

Winter-Sem.  1875-76 

"         "      1876-77 

"      1877-78 

"      1878-79 

"      1879-80 

152 

187 
188 
229 
230 

56 

59 

76 

98 

144 

IOO 
IOO 
IOO 
IOO 
IOO 

36.8 

31.5 
4O.4 
42.8 
62.6 

For  every  one  hundred  students  from  the  Gymnasium,  there  are  to-day 
almost  twice  as  many  graduates  of  Realschulen  as  there  were  four  years 
ago. 


4  PREFACE. 

the  Dean,  Professor  Hiibner,  to  call  upon  all  the  Instructors  in 
the  Philosophical  Faculty  to  report  the  results  of  their  experi- 
ence in  respect  to  the  subject  under  discussion.  The  rich 
material  thus  collected  was  thoroughly  discussed  and  sifted  by 
the  Faculty  in  a  number  of  meetings.  Professor  Zeller  finally 
undertook  to  incorporate  the  new  points  of  view  into  the  motion 
of  Droysen,  and  the  Memorial,  as  revised  by  him  and  addressed 
to  His  Excellency,  Herr  von  Puttkamer,  Minister  of  Public  In- 
struction, was  unanimously  adopted  by  the  Philosophical  Faculty 
in  their  session  of  March  8,  1880.  This  document,  the  contents 
of  which  undoubtedly  seem  fitted  to  throw  light  upon  the  question 
under  discussion,  has  not  up  to  this  time  been  made  public. 

The  reprinting  of  my  Inaugural  Address,  which  was  mainly 
instrumental  in  bringing  the  question  prominently  before  the 
public  again,  offered  a  welcome  opportunity  to  give  the  Memo- 
rial addressed  by  the  Faculty  to  his  Excellency,  the  Minister, 
wider  circulation.  Since,  however,  the  writer  of  a  letter,  as  well 
as  the  recipient,  should  consent  to  its  publication,  the  author 
first  of  all  asked  permission  of  the  Faculty  to  have  the  document 
printed  with  the  new  edition  of  this  Address.  The  Faculty 
granted  the  request  with  the  greatest  readiness  and  without  a 
dissenting  voice  ;  and  it,  moreover,  addressed  a  request  at  the 
same  time  to  His  Excellency,  the  Minister,  that  he  should  give 
his  consent  to  the  publication  of  the  Memorial,  which  he  did 
immediately  with  the  greatest  kindness. 

It  seemed  proper  to  publish  the  earlier  Opinion  of  the  Philo- 
sophical Faculty  along  with  the  later.  Since  the  publication  of 
the  first  Opinion  death  has  reaped  a  sad  harvest  in  our  Faculty. 
The  Faculty  has  been  to  a  great  extent  renewed  by  the  entrance 
of  a  large  number  of  younger  members.  But  the  views  which 
the  Faculty  of  1869  expressed  are  still  the  views  of  the  Faculty 
of  1880. 

Aug.  VVilh.  Hofmann. 

Berlin,  July  1,  1881. 


THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  DIVISION  OF  THE 
PHILOSOPHICAL  FACULTY. 


To  the  Philosophical  Faculty  by  its  nature  is  entrusted  the  Pal- 
ladium of  our  strivings  after  the  Ideal,  the  culture  of  pure  Science, 
the  representation  of  these  before  the  outside  world,  and  when  oc- 
casion requires  before  the  government;  and  it  is  eminently  fitting  and 
beautiful  to  see  spiritual  impulses  and  forces,  otherwise  most  dissimilar, 
marshalled  as  watchmen  under  such  a  standard. 

E.  du  Bois-Reymond. 


Gentlemen  :  — 

On  the  threshold  of  the  new  scholastic  year  I  extend  greet- 
ing and  good  wishes  to  my  colleagues  and  fellow-students. 
May  this  year  of  study  bring  us  profit  in  our  labours  ! 

I  need  not  repeat  the  assurance  which  I  have  already  given 
that  I  shall  conscientiously  tiy  to  administer  the  honourable 
office  entrusted  to  me  to  the  best  of  my  ability ;  but  will  ask 
your  permission,  following  the  traditions  of  our  University,  to 
introduce  myself  to  you  by  the  discussion  of  a  question  con- 
nected with  the  constitution  of  the  universities. 

On  casting  my  eyes  about  in  search  of  a  theme  whose  treatment 
would  find  room  within  the  narrow  limits  offered  by  to-day's 
ceremony,  a  question  suggested  itself  to  my  mind  which  has 
come  to  the  surface  more  than  once  in  the  course  of  the  last 
ten  or  twenty  years,  and  the  discussion  of  which  has  awakened 
a  certain  commotion  in  academic  circles.  This  question,  to  be 
sure,  concerns  immediately  only  the  philosophical  faculty ;  but 
when  we  consider  how  large  the  membership  is  in  this  faculty, 
that  in  most  of  our  universities  it  is  at  least  equal  to  the  entire 
membership  of  all  the  other  faculties,  and  in  many,  as  for  in- 
stance in  our  own,  considerably  greater,  —  and  if  we  reflect 
further  how  manifold  the  relations  are  which  centre  in  the  philo- 
sophical faculty,  we  cannot  avoid  conceding  to  it  an  exceptional 
position.  If,  however,  there  should  be  any  unwillingness  to  make 
such  a  concession,  nevertheless,  confident  as  I  am  that  all  who 
belong  to  the  Universitas  feel  themselves  to  be  members  of  one 
great  whole,  I  cherish  the  hope  that  when  I  attempt  to  throw 
light  upon  a  question  which  concerns  the  organization  of  the 
philosophical  faculty,  the  members  of  the  other  faculties  also,  as 


8  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

well  as  my  fellow-students  in  all  departments,  will  not  refuse  to 
lend  me  a  friendly  ear. 

The  question  to  which  I  wish  to  turn  your  attention  for  the 
moment  is  this  :  "  Does  the  philosophical  faculty,  with  its  diver- 
sified structure  and  its  daily  increasing  membership,  still  answer 
the  needs  of  the  times ;  or,  in  view  of  the  variety  of  branches  of 
science  represented  in  it,  is  a  separation  into  two  or  more  fac- 
ulties to  be  recommended?"  Moreover,  we  shall  not  be  able  to 
deny  that  this  question  has  a  practical  importance,  when  we 
learn  that  so  far  from  belonging  still  exclusively  to  the  domain 
of  speculation  it  has  already  entered  upon  the  stage  of  experi- 
ment, such  a  division  having  been,  in  fact,  accomplished  at  two 
German  universities. 

Why  is  it  that  the  philosophical  faculty  specially  should  be 
deemed  in  need  of  such  a  reform?  The  answer  to  this  question 
is  given  in  the  exceptional  position  of  the  philosophical  faculty 
already  pointed  out;  for  it  has  not,  up  to  this  time,  occurred 
to  any  one  to  divide  the  theological  faculty,  or  the  faculty  of 
law,  or  that  of  medicine.  The  growth  of  the  three  faculties  just 
named  has  in  course  of  time  been  much  less  than  that  of  the 
philosophical  faculty.  If  we  cast  a  glance  over  the  statistics  of  our 
own  university,  we  find  that  since  its  foundation  the  member- 
ship of  this  faculty  has  almost  trebled,  while  that  of  all  the  other 
faculties  taken  together  has  scarcely  more  than  doubled.1  We 
meet  a  similar  difference  in  growth  in  other  universities.  This 
difference  has  its  foundation  in  the  special  tasks  of  the  several 
faculties.  The  faculties  of  law,  theology,  and  medicine  belong 
to  science  in  the  service  of  practical  life ;  they  are  always,  by 
preference  at  least,  devoted  to  the  teaching  of  applied  science. 
The  philosophical  faculty  is  the  faculty  of  science  free  and 
untrammelled ;  its  efforts  are  immediately  directed  to  teaching 
science  for  its  own  sake.  Hence  it  is  that  the  tasks  of  the 
faculties  of  theology,  law,  and  medicine,  however  great  and 
various  they  may  appear,  and  however  important  for  the  welfare 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS\\ 

of  mankind,  nevertheless,  for  the  very  reason"' 
devoted  in  the  first  instance  to  practical  aims,  are  confined 
within  certain  fixed  boundaries,  while  the  domain  of  theoretical 
investigation  of  the  philosophical  faculty,  mind  and  nature, 
knows  no  limits.  This  twofold  domain  has  been  built  upon 
very  differently  at  different  times.  In  former  centuries  the 
deductive  sciences  enjoyed  preponderant  care  and  attention. 
It  has  been  reserved  for  our  own  century  to  unfold,  by  the  side 
of  these,  the  inductive  or  natural  sciences  to  unanticipated  ful- 
ness. But  since  now  this  very  growth  of  the  natural  sciences, 
and  the  representation  of  their  single  divergent  brandies  in  the 
philosophical  faculty,  have  contributed  essentially  toward  widen- 
ing its  limits,  it  cannot  cause  us  any  astonishment  that  it  is  the 
natural  sciences  which  demand  a  release  from  the  union,  as  a 
colony  grown  great  and  powerful  desires  to  sever  the  tie  which 
binds  it  to  the  mother  country. 

Additional  and  substantial  force  is  lent  to  this  demand  by  the 
importance,  we  might  say  the  position  of  authority,  which  the 
natural  sciences  have  assumed  in  industry,  in  the  arts  and 
manufactures,  outside  of  the  academic  circle  where  they  are 
cultivated  exclusively  in  the  investigation  of  truth.  In  all  fields 
of  human  activity  we  meet  with  the  useful  application  of  the 
acquisitions  of  natural  science,  and  its  utilization  for  the  develop- 
ment of  practical  life  is  accomplished  with  such  rapidity  that  a 
dream  in  physics  or  chemistry  often  seems  to  be  realized  before 
it  is  fully  dreamed  out.  No  wonder  that  the  representatives  of 
these  sciences,  which  have  shown  themselves  serviceable  to  the 
material  welfare  of  mankind  to  a  degree  scarcely  approached 
by  any  others,  find  the  question  urging  itself  upon  them, 
whether  the  time  has  not  come,  in  view  of  this  present  develop- 
ment, for  them  to  step  out  of  the  position  they  have  hitherto 
occupied  in  the  philosophical  faculty  in  order  to  construct  a 
faculty  of  their  own. 

Efforts  in  this  direction  do  not  date  from  to-day  nor  from 


IO  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

yesterday.  They  appear  at  an  early  period,  in  fact,  almost  at 
the  same  time  with  the  first  beginnings  of  natural  science  studies 
in  our  universities.  So  far  as  my  own  information  extends,  the 
cause  of  the  natural  sciences  was  first  espoused  by  the  cele- 
brated publicist,  Robert  von  Mohl,  in  Tubingen,  nearly  half  a 
century  ago.  "  The  number  of  faculties,"  says  von  Mohl  in  his 
Polizei'WissenscJiaft-1  "  is  regulated  by  the  extent  to  which  the 
sciences  are  taught  at  the  university,  and  is  consequently  by 
no  means  unchangeable.  If  one  science  reaches  such  develop- 
ment within  and  without  that  it  requires  a  greater  number  of 
instructors,  and  forms  an  existing  department  of  study  in  itself, 
an  appropriate  faculty  must  be  established  for  it."  And  he 
adds  further  :  "  The  time  may  not  be  far  off  when  the  natural 
sciences  also  will  everywhere  be  organized  as  a  special  depart- 
ment with  its  own  faculty." 

It  has,  however,  required  considerable  time  for  this  expecta- 
tion to  reach  fulfilment  even  in  modest  measure.  To  be  sure, 
in  the  course  of  years,  the  transformation  of  the  philosophical 
faculty  has  been  repeatedly  the  subject  of  advisement  at  differ- 
ent universities,  but  it  has  been  impossible  to  arouse  any  en- 
thusiasm in  its  behalf.  Thus  at  an  early  period,  at  the  little 
University  of  Giessen,  where  toward  the  middle  of  the  century 
a  large  circle  of  young  investigators  had  gathered  about  the 
powerful  personality  of  Liebig,  various  negotiations  were  carried 
on  directed  toward  a  division  of  the  faculty,  although  not  until 
Liebig  had  removed  to  Munich.  A  separation  of  the  natural 
science  branches  had  been  suggested  by  the  Hessian  govern- 
ment. The  faculty  replied  that  a  division  into  two  parts  did  not 
seem  desirable  ;  that,  if  any  change  should  be  decided  on,  a  di- 
vision into  three  parts  would  perhaps  be  preferable.  They  finally 
decided,  however,  in  favour  of  the  existing  unity.3  About  the 
year  i860  the  idea  of  division  was  first  taken  into  serious  con- 
sideration at  Tubingen,  that  is,  at  the  same  university  in  which 
the   notion   originated;  and  finally,  in  the   year  1863,  it  was 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  I  I 

carried  out.  The  philosophical  faculty  retained  its  name ;  to 
the  faculty  of  natural  sciences  were  assigned  the  chairs  of 
mathematics  and  astronomy,  of  physics,  of  pure  and  applied 
chemistry,  of  mineralogy  and  geology  with  palaeontology,  of 
botany,  of  zoology  and  comparative  anatomy,  and  of  pharma- 
cology. The  newly  established  faculty  of  the  natural  sciences 
came  into  existence  at  the  beginning  of  the  winter-semester  of 
the  same  year  under  the  chairmanship  of  its  first  dean,  the 
botanist  Hugo  von  Mohl,  a  brother  of  the  publicist  already 
mentioned.  We  learn  from  the  document  published  on  this 
occasion,4  that  the  first  inducement  to  this  innovation  was  a 
proposal  on  the  part  of  the  medical  faculty,  which  was  accepted 
only  after  an  obstinate  struggle  between  the  faculties  con- 
cerned.5 It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  philosophical  faculty 
of  that  time  pronounced  itself  as  a  whole  repeatedly  and  in  the 
most  decided  manner  against  the  plan,  although  all  its  members 
who  represented  natural  science  branches  had  voted  in  favour  of 
separation  and  union  with  the  natural  science  members  of  the 
medical  faculty.  Not  until  after  the  academic  senate  advocated 
the  forming  of  a  new  faculty  did  the  government  take  the  deci- 
sion of  the  question  into  its  own  hands.6 

Hugo  von  Mohl,  who  formally  opened  the  new  faculty  with 
an  address  on  October  29,  1863,  evidently  entered  upon  the 
office  fully  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  the  innovation,  for  he 
concluded  his  speech  with  an  admonition  directed  to  the  Ger- 
man universities,  "not  to  remain  behind  the  times,  to  recog- 
nize the  importance  which  the  natural  sciences  had  attained, 
and  to  concede  to  them  a  position  of  independence  corre- 
sponding to  their  importance  and  conducive  to  their  further 
development." 

"That  we  have  attained  this,"  he  exclaims  in  closing,  "is 
proved  by  the  fact  that  I  speak  to  you  to-day  from  this  place. 
The  establishment  of  the  faculty  of  natural  sciences  means  a 
break  with  the  medieval  view  that  culture  can  be  found  only  in 


12  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.       . 

humanitarian  studies,  it  means  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
the  natural  sciences  have  grown  up  to  an  equality  with  other 
sciences,  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  they  must  pursue  their 
special  purpose  in  their  own  way,  and  the  assurance  that  they 
may  strive  toward  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose  without 
being  led  astray  by  foreign  influences.  Let  us  express  our 
thanks  to  the  intelligence  of  our  government,  which  h  the  first 
in  Germany  to  have  broken  with  the  old  prejudice,  and  let  us 
call  to  our  sister  universities  :  Follow  us  1" 

The  sister  universities,  however,  have  not  responded  to  this 
call.  Some  of  them  indeed,  in  consequence  of  the  action  of 
Tubingen,  have  taken  the  question  of  the  division  of  the  faculty 
into  consideration,  but  further  than  that  they  have  not  gone. 
An  interrogation  addressed  to  the  Vienna  philosophical  faculty 
by.  the  Austrian  government  shortly  before  the  year  1870  led  to 
a  thorough  discussion  of  the  question  ;  this  numerous  body 
expressed  itself  by  a  large  majority  against  division.7  In  Bres- 
lau  also  division  was  the  subject  of  lively  discussion  for  years, 
without  resulting  in  any  reconstruction  of  the  faculty.8  In  Kiel 
and  in  Konigsberg  propositions  for  a  division  have  been  like- 
wise without  result.9  The  results  of  deliberations  in  Munich, 
and  later  also  in  Wurzburg,  which  have  not  led  to  an  imitation 
of  Tubingen,  I  shall  consider  particularly  hereafter. 

But  the  mighty  stream  of  events  which  has  poured  over  our 
country  since  that  time  has  added  a  younger  sister  to  our 
circle. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  revival  of  the  Uni"ersity  of  Strassburg 
under  Roggenbach's  wise  and  clear-sighted  guidance,  the  ques- 
tion of  fixing  the  boundaries  of  the  faculties  was  the  subject  of 
long  and  careful  deliberation,  and  it  will  always  appear  an  im- 
portant step,  that  there,  after  the  expiration  of  a  year,  it  was 
decided  to  follow  the  example  of  Ttibingen  and  to  abandon  the 
traditional  organization  of  the  philosophical  faculty  which  had 
been  first  adopted.     In  addition  to  its  philosophical  faculty  the 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  I  3 

new  Strassburg  University  has  a  faculty  10  of  mathematics  and 
the  natural  sciences. 

When  we  enter  upon  the  discussion  of  this  question,  we 
certainly  must  not  undervalue  the  example  of  the  University  of. 
Strassburg.  Those  who  had  the  organizing  of  the  new  school 
were  scarcely  trammelled  at  all  by  arrangements  existing  at  the 
time  of  its  revival ;  they  might  select  the  one  or  the  other  form 
according  as  they  deemed  one  or  the  other  better  adapted  to 
their  purpose.  They  decided  finally  in  favour  of  the  system  of 
division  which  had  been  introduced  at  Tubingen.  But  at  the 
same  time  we  must  not  attach  too  great  importance  to  this  de- 
cision, on  the  one  hand,  because  it  was  more  a  question  of 
entirely  new  creation  than  of  reconstruction,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  because  in  this  case  it  seemed  fitting  to  maintain  the 
traditions  of  the  French  period.  Even  if  we  are  compelled  to 
admit  that  under  the  circumstances  Strassburg  chose  the  better 
part,  it  would  not  follow  that  it  would  be  expedient  likewise  to 
reconstruct  the  already  existing  united  philosophical  faculties 
in  accordance  with  the  example  of  Tubingen. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  changes  which  have  been  accom- 
plished meanwhile  in  Munich,  and  in  a  more  limited  degree  in 
the  Wiirzburg  philosophical  faculty,  have  a  very  special  bearing 
upon  the  discussion  of  the  question  which  occupies  us.  In 
Munich  the  question  of  the  division  of  the  faculty,  suggested 
perhaps  by  its  large  membership,  was  taken  into  consideration 
ve'ry  soon  after  Tubingen  had  led  the  way.  The  division,  how- 
ever, was  never  made.  The  faculty  has  been  maintained  in  its 
entirety,  and  appears  so  in  its  catalogues.  It  is  divided,  how- 
ever, into  two  sections,  a  section  of  philosophy,  philology,  and 
history,  and  a  section  of  mathematics  and  natural  sciences, 
each  of  which  holds  separate  sessions  under  its  own  dean.  In 
these  sessions  all  the  business  relating  to  the  respective  sections 
is  transacted.  Only  when  questions  arise  which  concern  the 
common  affairs  of  the  faculty  are  their  deliberations  carried  on 


14  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

in  a  joint  session,  in  which  the  dean  who  has  served  longest 
occupies  the  chair.11  A  similar  arrangement  has  prevailed  in 
Wiirzburg  since  the  middle  of  the  last  decade,  though  there 
both  sections  have  only  one  dean,  who  is  chosen  alternately 
from  each.12  This  division  of  the  faculty,  preserving  its  unity, 
recalls  in  some  measure  the  arrangements  which  exist  in  vari- 
ous Academies  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  especially  our  own. 

The  practical  results  gathered  in  Tubingen  and  wStrassburg, 
as  well  as  in  Munich  and  Wiirzburg,  since  the  introduction  of 
the  new  order  of  things,  have  been  hitherto  only  sparingly  com- 
municated by  those  who  are  able  to  speak  with  authority,  that 
is,  by  members  of  the  faculties  which  have  undergone  the 
change.  With  the  exception  of  a  very  noteworthy  article  by 
Paul  du  Bois-Reymond,  professor  of  mathematics  in  Tubingen, 
who  moreover  pronounces  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  unity  of 
the  philosophical  faculty,13  I  am  acquainted  with  no  publi- 
cation, up  to  this  time,  which  touches  upon  these  practical 
results. 

In  view  of  the  differences  in  the  conditions  under  which  the 
division  of  the  faculty  has  taken  place  at  the  four  universities 
mentioned,  and  in  the  absence  of  thorough  information  con- 
cerning its  results,  a  purely  academic  treatment  of  the  question 
seems  for  the  present  advisable  ;  one  which,  disregarding  every 
precedent,  shall  discuss  only  the  reasons  which  have  been  or 
which  can  be  adduced  in  favour  of  separation,  or  in  favour  of 
the  continuance  of  the  philosophical  faculties  in  their  unity.  In 
this  discussion,  however,  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  practical 
conditions,  and  especially  of  the  fact  that  the  several  universities 
show  considerable  differences  in  their  internal  organization,  — 
for  example,  many  have  the  so-called  Great  Senate,  which  has 
jurisdiction  in  general  university  matters.  These  special  ar- 
rangements cannot  be  without  substantial  influence  on  the 
general  question.  It  is  to  be  understood  then,  once  for  all, 
that  in  the  argument  which  I  am  about  to  enter  upon  I  make 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  I  5 

the  existing  arrangement  in  the  majority  of  the  North  German 
universities  my  starting-point.14 

If  we  ask  what  grounds  are  adduced  for  the  separation,  the 
supporters  of  the  movement  generally  point  first  of  all  to  the 
advanced  development  of  the  natural  sciences  and  to  the  num- 
ber of  special  courses  which  are  already  represented  or  which 
will  be  so  in  the  immediate  future ;  they  say  that  such  a  body 
of  sciences  can  no  longer  be  denied  the  recognition  of  its  inde- 
pendence ;  that  the  grouping  of  the  natural  sciences  with  the 
so-called  mental  sciences,  whose  representatives  build  upon  a 
domain  of  study  so  entirely  distinct  and  pursue  methods  so 
essentially  different,  must  exert  an  obstructive  influence  upon 
the  development  of  the  former,  and  cannot  be  in  any  way 
advantageous  to  the  latter. 

These  hints  may  suffice  to  indicate  the  general  line  of  attack 
chosen  by  the  champions  of  division.  As  to  special  arguments, 
they  point  in  the  first  place  to  the  injury  which,  as  they  affirm, 
accrues  to  the  natural  sciences  from  the  composite  constitution 
of  the  united  philosophical  faculty ;  they  say  that,  in  the  present 
condition  of  things,  the  decision  is  always  in  the  hands  of  the 
philosophers,  —  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  use  this  expression 
henceforth  to  designate  those  members  of  the  faculty  who  are 
not  concerned  with  the  mathematics  or  the  natural  sciences  ; 
that  on  account  of  this  unnatural  relation  all  decisions  by  vote  are 
placed  in  doubt,  and  that  motions  which  may  be  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  welfare  of  the  natural  sciences  are  in  danger 
of  coming  to  naught ;  that  no  help  can  be  expected  from  the 
casting  of  a  minority  vote,  for,  since  the  presiding  officers  in  the 
universities  are  usually  philosophers,  or  officials  with  philosophi- 
cal sympathies,  the  fate  of  a  minority  vote  is  almost  always 
sealed  at  the  outset.  It  would  seem  in  fact  that  there  have 
been  bitter  experiences  in  many  places,  owing  to  undivided 
faculties.  "  It  would  indicate  a  very  imperfect  knowledge  of 
men,"  says  Hfugo  von  Mojil,  "  \o  expect  that  a  majority  which 


l6  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

understands  nothing  of  the  affairs  of  the  minority  and  is  con- 
trolled by  entirely  different  principles  will  have  the  self-denial 
to  yield  to  the  judgment  of  the  minority  and  support  its 
measures ;  as  a  rule  it  will  follow  its  own  views,  however  poor 
their  grounds,  and  oppose  the  minority."  According  to  von 
Mohl  an  undivided  philosophical  faculty  must  steer  its  course 
between  peculiar  dangers  when  it  approaches  the  task  of  filling 
a  vacant  professorial  chair.  He  affirms  that  the  evil  complained 
of  is  felt  also  in  case  of  grants  for  pecuniary  expenses  of  all 
kinds, —  especially  the  philosophers  are  charged  with  having  an 
insuperable  disinclination  to  provide  books  on  natural  science. 
In  the  natural  science  division  of  the  university  library  "  an 
empty  abyss  yawns  to  meet  him  who  enters."  In  this  connection 
von  Mohl#  mentions  a  German  university  known  to  him  where 
the  air-pump  for  the  physical  laboratory  was  ordered  of  the  local 
pump-maker  in  order  that  the  money  might  not  go  to  benefit  a 
foreign  mechanic.  I  do  not  mean  to  say,  however,  that  the 
philosophers  were  held  directly  responsible  for  this  valuable 
enrichment  of  the  physical  collection. 

A  final  charge  is  made  against  the  union  by  the  secessionists, 

—  that  of  waste  of  time.  "  Division  of  labour,"  they  cry,  "  is  the 
talismanic  motto  of  to-day  ;  division  of  labour,  which  enables  us 
to  make  the  most  of  the  niggard  favours  of  time." 

But  now  let  us  hear  what  they  have  to  say  who  wish  to  pre- 
serve the  faculty  entire. 

Although  without  doubt  the  investigator  of  nature  and  the 
philosopher  labour  in  different  fields,  nevertheless  it  need  be  ad- 
mitted only  conditionally  that  the  methods  of  the  two  are  different. 
Investigation  in  the  cause  of  knowledge,  irrespective  of  every 
practical  advantage  to  be  taken  of  knowledge  gained,  is  common 
to  both.  The  physicist,  —  and  I  shall  use  this  name  hencefor- 
ward in  its  ancient  sense  to  designate  the  investigator  of  nature, 

—  the  physicist,  like  the  metaphysician,  starts  from  a  series  of 
hypotheses  upon  which  the  well  constructed  edifice  of  his  con- 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  1 7 

elusions  is  erected.  But  the  physicist,  in  his  work,  has  aids  at 
his  command  which  are  lacking  to  the  metaphysician.  The 
mineralogist,  the  botanist,  the  zoologist  have  observation  to  help 
them ;  the  physicist,  in  the  narrower  sense  of  the  term,  and 
the  chemist  have  experiment ;  and  so  far  the  assertion  that  the 
methods  of  the  two  are  different  may  be  allowed.  On  the  other 
hand  it  cannot  be  overlooked  that  the  methods  of  the  mathe- 
matician, whom  it  is  the  intention  everywhere  to  include  in  the 
proposed  natural  science  faculty,  diverge  perhaps  more  from 
those  of  the  chemist  and  botanist  than  from  those  of  the  meta- 
physician. And  in  like  manner  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
physicist  and  the  chemist  have  to  pursue  paths  quite  distinct 
from  those  of  the  mineralogist  and  the  botanist,  or  any  other 
devotee  of  the  descriptive  natural  sciences.  At  all  events,  the 
apprehension,  even  if  well  founded,  of  disadvantage  to  the 
natural  sciences  from  difference  in  methods  between  philoso- 
phers and  physicists,  if  these  were  united  in  the  same  faculty, 
cannot  have  much  force  as  an  argument  for  separation,  since 
even  if  separation  should  really  follow,  the  most  heterogeneous 
elements  would  still  be  united  with  one  another. 

But  is  there  in  fact  any  occasion  for  such  apprehension? 
The  advocates  of  an  undivided  faculty  assert  that  this  question 
must  be  answered  in  the  negative,  since  hitherto  no  one  has 
produced  proof  that  the  natural  sciences  have  suffered  any 
detriment  whatever  by  reason  of  their  long  association  with  the 
deductive  sciences. 

The  natural  sciences  are  at  this  moment,  and  have  been  for  a 
long  time,  more  fully  developed  at  our  universities  than  in  any 
other  country  in  the  world.  And  especially  is  Germany  in 
advance  of  all  other  countries  as  regards  the  separate  repre- 
sentation of  the  particular  branches  of  natural  science.  But 
even  with  us  it  was  no  rare  thing,  as  late  as  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  to  find  lectures  in  two  or  even  three  natural 
sciences   delivered   by  the   same   professor.     But  even  then  a 


l8  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

change  took  place  for  the  better,  while  elsewhere  the  incon- 
gruity continued  to  exist  until  after  the  middle  of  the  century. 
I  know  particularly  of  one  great  and  wealthy  university  where, 
even  as  late  as  this,  the  chairs  of  chemistry  and  botany  were 
united.  The  dubious  nature  of  his  position  weighed  heavily  on 
the  soul  of  the  fortunate  double  professor,  and  he  gave  expres- 
sion to  his  embarrassment  in  a  somewhat  naive  manner.  He  car- 
ried visiting  cards  of  two  kinds,  and,  as  was  proper,  in  calling  on 
a  botanist,  he  left  a  chemistry  card,  and  in  calling  on  a  chemist, 
a  botany  card.  Nowadays  no  professor  is  expected  to  teach 
two  distinct  branches  of  natural  science.  If  any  one  wished 
to-day  to  criticize  the  mode  in  which  single  branches  are  repre- 
sented in  German  universities,  he  would  do  better  to  take 
exception  to  the  almost  too  narrow  limits  within  which  many 
instructors  confine  their  departments.  And  it  is  not  only  the 
completeness  of  the  organization  of  the  body  of  natural  science 
instructors  which  has  given  our  universities  an  advanced  posi- 
tion. The  external  helps  which  are  necessary  to  such  extensive 
cultivation  of  the  natural  sciences  have  been  granted  by  govern- 
ments and  legislatures  with  generous  hand.  Before  the  year 
1870  an  advocate  of  secession  might  still  have  maintained,  with 
some  show  of  reason,  that  only  at  universities  where  the  branches 
of  natural  science  were  represented  by  instructors  of  extraordi- 
nary eminence  and  energy  had  they  the  advantage  of  at  all 
adequate  establishments ;  to-day  we  can  turn  their  weapon 
against  themselves,  and  say  that,  if  there  are  still  at  any  uni- 
versities branches  of  learning  which  stand  in  need  of  suitable 
establishments,  they  are  certainly  only  those  whose  representa- 
tives have  manifested  but  meagre  interest  in  perfecting  them. 
In  no  other  country  of  the  world  have  such  palaces  and  temples 
been  erected  to  the  natural  sciences  as  have  arisen  and  are  still 
standing  on  every  side  in  the  German  universities.  Nor  has 
this  movement  been  neglected  in  other  countries,  and  envoys 
from  abroad  study  carefully  and  zealously  the  arrangement  of 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  IQ 

the  natural  science  departments  at  our  universities  in  order  to 
advise  their  governments  through  comprehensive  reports  of  the 
results  of  their  investigations.15  Indeed,  we  have  every  reason 
to  be  proud  of  the  flourishing  condition  of  the  natural  sciences 
at  our  German  universities,  and  if  we  reflect  that  this  high  state 
of  prosperity  has  developed  while  their  cultivators  tilled  the  field 
in  company  with  workers  in  other  domains  of  learning,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  community  of  labour  has  been  anything  but  a 
drag  on  them  ;  nay,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  physi- 
cists, had  they  guided  the  ploughshare  of  science  without  the 
co-operation  of  the  philosophers,  would  have  reaped  harvests  so 
rich. 

If,  now,  the  natural  sciences  have  in  fact  suffered  no  manner 
of  harm  from  their  union  with  the  philosophical  branches,  if 
there  is  no  ground  for  fear  that  harm  may  accrue  to  them  in 
future,  then  it  only  remains  for  us  to  select  particular  allegations 
of  grievance,  and  see  what  they  are  worth. 

And  first,  special  weight  is  laid  upon  the  impossibility  of  mak- 
ing any  calculation  how  an  undivided  faculty  will  vote.  When 
it  is  asserted  that  the  philosophers  are  everywhere  in  a  majority, 
the  assertion  may  be  true  enough  as  a  rough,  general  statement, 
though  this  numerical  majority  is  not  the  same  at  different  uni- 
versities. In  Berlin  the  number  of  philosophers  is  rather  more 
than  twice  that  of  physicists ;  in  Leipzig  and  Strassburg  nearly 
double ;  in  Tubingen  half  as  large  again ;  while  in  Gottingen 
the  excess  is  scarcely  worth  mentioning.  We  see  then  what 
may  be  the  result  of  a  vote.  Let  us  suppose  now  a  faculty  so 
unfortunately  constituted  that  not  one  of  the  philosophers  has 
any  acquaintance  with  the  natural  sciences  or  feels  any  interest 
in  them ;  and  suppose,  moreover,  that  these  sciences  have  not 
a  single  supporter  among  the  government  officials.  In  such  a 
case  it  would  be  possible  for  the  most  useful,  nay,  the  most 
necessary  measure  to  fall  through.  But  it  is  evident  that 
there  would   have  to  be  a    rare   combination   of  unfavourable 


20  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

circumstances  to  produce  such  a  result.  Now  let  us  look  at 
the  matter  on  its  bright  side  also.  The  members  of  a  united 
faculty  are  not  narrow-minded  specialists  whose  circle  of 
vision  does  not  extend  beyond  their  own  hedge-row.  They  are 
far-sighted  men,  who  see  in  the  gain  of  the  smallest  part  a 
pledge  of  the  advancement  of  the  whole,  genuine  Fellows  of 
the  Univcrsitas  in  the  noblest  meaning  of  the  word.  The 
members  of  the  two  parts  need  not  possess  a  very  deep  insight 
into  one  another's  affairs,  but  they  feel  the  need  and  the  desire 
to  understand  one  another.  Suppose  that  in  a  faculty  thus 
constituted  a  proposition  has  been  introduced,  on  the  part  of 
the  natural  science  members,  which  perhaps  at  the  first  glance 
seems  to  the  others  to  be  of  no  great  utility,  but  that  after  a  free 
interchange  of  opinion  it  has  finally  won  recognition  in  spite  of 
that  fact,  and  now,  supported  by  the  vote  of  an  entire  faculty,  it 
reaches  the  senate  or  the  minister.  How  much  greater  weight 
will  such  a  proposition  have  than  if  it  had  proceeded  simply 
from  a  natural  science  faculty,  which  after  all  can  consist  only 
of  a  relatively  small  number  of  members,  whose  ideas,  more- 
over, move  in  circles  so  closely  related  that  a  comprehensive 
discussion  is  hardly  possible.  The  defenders  of  the  united 
faculty  are  therefore  of  the  opinion  that,  although  the  possibility 
that  the  physicists  may  be  occasionally  outvoted  by  the  philos- 
ophers must  be  admitted,  the  injury  arising  in  this  way  is 
extremely  unlikely.  They  are  especially  unwilling  to  admit 
that  in  filling  professorships,  when  not  the  particular  gain  of 
one  or  another  part  but  the  well-being  of  the  entire  univer- 
sity is  at  stake,  any  injury,  even  the  slightest,  has  accrued  to 
the  natural  sciences  through  a  misuse  of  power  on  the  part  of 
philosophical  majorities.  And  those  who  never  weary  of  point- 
ing to  the  preference  enjoyed  by  the  philosophical  branches  in 
university  libraries  must  not  forget  that  in  just  this  respect  the 
philosophers  have  a  start  of  centuries  which  the  physicists  can- 
not expect  to  make  good  i:i  a  few  decades.     The  defenders  of 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  21 

the  united  faculty  on  the  contrary  are  convinced  that  it  is  pre- 
cisely the  union  of  the  representatives  of  both  fields  of  investi- 
gation on  which  its  position  of  authority  is  based,  inasmuch  as 
the  influence  of  prominent  members  of  one  part  must  redound 
necessarily  to  the  good  of  the  other. 

On  the  other  hand  the  advocates  of  union  cannot  and  do  not 
deny  that  faculty  meetings  involve  a  certain  expenditure  of  time 
which  might  be  lessened  by  a  division  of  the  faculty.  The 
relation  between  the  simply  business  duties  which  fall  to  the 
two  parts  is  not  easily  fixed,  and  must  be  different  in  different 
universities  and  at  different  times.  If  we  assume  that  the  bur- 
den of  business  of  a  united  faculty  is  distributed  between  the 
two  parts  in  the  ratio  of  their  numbers,  then  it  would  seem  that 
the  number  of  meetings  in  a  faculty  of  natural  science  might 
be  reduced  in  the  most  favourable  case  to  one-third,  and  in  the 
least  favourable  case  to  one-half.  In  reality  however  the  saving 
in  time  will  not  be  nearly  so  great ;  for,  in  case  of  business 
which  concerns  only  a  part  of  the  faculty,  nothing  now  prevents 
the  appointment  of  a  committee  ad  hoc  to  work  up  the  matter 
under  advisement  in  order  to  bring  it  before  the  full  faculty  in  a 
suitable  state  of  preparation.  Or  we  may  decide  in  favour  of 
the  formation  of  standing  committees,  such  as  have  proved  use- 
ful in  the  faculty  at  Bonn  for  nearly  half  a  century.16  In  this 
way  too  the  advantages  arrived  at  in  Munich  might  be  attained 
without  having  recourse  to  a  partial  separation,  such  as  has 
taken  place  there. 

If  however  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  physicists  as  well  as  the 
philosophers  suffer  a  small  sacrifice  of  time  by  reason  of  their 
union  in  one  faculty,  nevertheless  the  question  arises  whether 
this  loss  is  not  richly  outweighed  by  the  gain  to  both  parts 
through  the  union.  To  mention  no  others,  the  external  ad- 
vantages are  not  to  be  lightly  valued,  especially  in  a  great  city 
where  the  conditions  of  existence  make  personal  intercourse 
difficult.     The    points    of  contact    between    the    two    parts   in 


22  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

matters  relating  to  learning  are  so  many  that  it  is  difficult  to 
conceive  of  a  faculty  meeting  without  exchange  of  ideas  and 
consequently  a  double  gain.  In  these  sessions  the  most  vari- 
ous matters  relating  to  learning  are  disposed  of.  Every  one,  in 
whatever  field  he  labours,  will  need  assistance  more  or  less  often, 
and  he  knows  that  his  colleagues  are  ready  and  willing  to  lend 
it,  just  as  it  will  be  a  pleasure  to  him  also  to  be  of  service  to 
them  in  return.  As  a  rule  it  will  hardly  be  a  question  of  making 
and  satisfying  serious  demands,  but  only  of  rendering  small 
services  which  may  be  of  great  value  to  the  one  and  cost  the 
other  nothing.  Possibly  it  may  be  only  the  identification  or  the 
explanation  of  a  passage  from  the  writings  of  the  ancients,  or  an 
etymological  derivation,  or  a  hasty  glance  into  the  history  of 
philosophy  ;  or  it  may  be  a  question  of  giving  a  name  to  a  new 
mineral,  or  to  a  new  plant,  or  perhaps  of  baptizing  a  new-born 
child  of  chemistry.  But  this  comfortable  learned  intercourse 
in  little  things  is  by  no  means  the  only  result  brought  about  by 
the  united  faculty ;  we  must  estimate  much  higher  the  gain  to 
each  individual  in  scientific  grasp  from  such  a  community. 

Differences  are  sharpened  by  separation  and  smoothed  away 
by  association.  This  principle  is  true  also  of  the  philosophical 
faculty.  The  surest  means  of  forestalling  threatening  misunder- 
standings between  individuals,  or  of  removing  those  which  have 
already  arisen,  is  personal  intercourse  with  the  whole.  And  this 
manifold  intercourse  is  also  our  best  protection  against  one- 
sided absorption. 

The  investigator  of  the  present  seeks  his  salvation,  as  a  rule, 
in  devotion  to  one  science,  nay,  often  to  only  a  part  of  one  sci- 
ence. He  looks  neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  in  order  that 
what  is  going  on  in  his  neighbour's  field  may  not  prevent  him 
from  burying  himself  in  his  speciality  to  his  heart's  content.  We 
arc  far  from  failing  to  recognize  the  great  value  of  this  very  ab- 
sorption to  the  progress  of  science;  indeed,  the  unexampled  expan- 
sion of  science  would  hardly  be  possible  without  the  self-restraint 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  23 

which  the  investigator  exercises,  for  the  most  part  of  his  own 
free  choice,  in  limiting  the  field  of  his  work.  But  it  gives 
rise  also  to  serious  alarm.  Too  exclusive  occupation  with 
details  obscures  our  view  of  the  great  whole,  the  understanding 
of  which  is  the  final  goal  of  all  our  efforts, 

"Denn  nur  der  grosse  Gegenstand  vermag 
Den  tiefen  Grund  der  Menschheit  aufzuregen. 
Im  engen  Kreis  verengert  sich  der  Sinn." 

And  especially  in  view  of  the  unmistakable  tendency  of  our 
times,  the  disposition  to  combine  and  specialize  all  effort,  any 
stimulus  to  intercourse  with  workers  in  other  fields  of  study 
which  prompts  us  to  open  our  eyes  to  a  wider  prospect  seems 
doubly  desirable.  Ceteris  paribus  he  whose  scientific  work  is 
furthest  from  that  of  the  mere  mechanic  will  be  sure  of  the 
greatest  success.  But  he  who  isolates  himself  in  his  work  or 
who  maintains  intercourse  only  with  his  immediate  companions 
in  his  own  department  is  peculiarly  exposed  to  the  danger  of 
falling  into  such  petty  mechanical  labour.  I  share  in  every 
respect  the  recently  expressed  opinion  of  one  of  our  colleagues, 
of  whom  surely  it  will  not  be  said  that  he  would  be  inclined  to 
underestimate  the  value  of  the  pursuit  of  the  natural  sciences. 

"Natural  science,  when  its  pursuit  is  one-sided,"  says  E.  du 
Bois-Reymond,17  "like  every  other  activity  so  pursued,  narrows 
the  field  of  view.  Natural  science  under  such  circumstances 
confines  the  glance  to  that  which  lies  immediately  at  hand  and 
within  reach,  to  what  offers  itself  as  the  immediate  result  of 
sense-perception  with  apparently  unconditioned  certainty.  It 
turns  the  mind  aside  from  more  general,  less  certain  observa- 
tions, and  disaccustoms  it  to  exercise  itself  in  the  realm  of  the 
quantitatively  indeterminable.  In  a  certain  sense  we  extol  this 
as  an  invaluable  virtue  of  science ;  but  where  it  is  exclusively 
dominant,  the  mind  is  apt  to  grow  poor  in  ideas,  the  imagina- 
tion in  pictures,  the  soul  in  sensitiveness,  and  the  result  is  a 


24  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

narrow,  dry,  and  hard  mode  of  thought  deserted  by  the  Muses 
and  the  Graces." 

Surely  there  is  no  better  means  of  guarding  against  this  one- 
sided deformity  than  community  of  labour  in  the  undivided 
faculty  ! 

And  there  is  still  another  beneficent  influence  ascribed  by 
many  to  the  undivided  faculty.  Attention  has  just  been  directed 
to  the  one-sided  absorption  which  clings  to  the  scholarship  of 
our  times.  Still  another  reproach  has  been  made  against  it  on 
many  sides,  that  of  arrogance.  There  have  been  scholars  at  all 
times  with  a  very  high  opinion  of  themselves.  Their  number 
has  recently  increased  very  considerably,  so  much  so  indeed 
that  a  peculiar  disease  has  developed  which  fortunately  makes 
its  appearance  only  in  sporadic  cases.  There  is  one  unfailing 
remedy  against  it,  which  unfortunately  cannot  be  prescribed  for 
every  one  ;  this  is  community  of  labor  in  the  undivided  faculty. 

Shall  we  be  willing  to  give  up  such  advantages  for  the  sake 
of  gaining  a  few  hours  by  reducing  the  number  of  faculty 
meetings  ? 

These  advantages  inure  to  the  members  of  the  faculty  espe- 
cially in  their  character  as  scholars ;  but  they  are  at  the  same 
time  teachers,  indeed,  we  may  say,  teachers  first  of  all.  Let 
us  therefore  see  what  is  their  attitude  toward  the  question  in 
this  latter  character,  and  last,  not  least,  how  the  men  who  study 
under  them  in  the  great  fields  of  the  philosophical  and  physical 
sciences  are  affected  by  it. 

In  the  first  place,  as  regards  the  teacher,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  about  his  interest.  If  it  cannot  be  denied  that  a  general 
insight  into  the  contents,  the  methods,  and  the  aims  of  cognate 
sciences,  such  as  the  undivided  faculty  affords,  proves  of  great 
advantage  to  the  man  of  learning  and  to  the  investigator,  in 
whom  some  one-sidedness  is  pardonable,  we  must  admit  that 
such  a  view  of  neighbouring  territory  is  an  indispensable  need 
of  the  teacher,  whose  business  it  is,  above  all,  to  attain  a  clear 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  25 

judgment  of  his  position  in  the  great  field  of  instruction,  and  in 
whom  narrowness  would  be  a  serious  fault.  He  certainly  ex- 
erts himself  assiduously  to  secure  a  natural  development  of  his 
subject  before  his  pupils  out  of  its  own  material,  but  he  is  always 
more  or  less  under  the  necessity  of  reaching  out  beyond  the 
narrow  confines  of  his  special  study.  The  material  necessary 
for  a  full  presentation  of  his  thought,  from  his  hearers'  point  of 
view,  will  be  at  his  disposal  only  at  a  later  stage  of  his  lectures. 
He  will  therefore  not  infrequently  be  so  situated  as  to  be  com- 
pelled to  borrow  of  bordering  departments  of  knowledge,  and 
he  will  be  the  better  able  to  do  this  the  more  comprehensive  is 
his  view  of  them. 

In  this  requirement,  that  the  members  of  the  faculty  shall 
be  teachers,  lies  also  the  essential  distinction  between  faculty 
and  academy.  In  the  academy  the  didactic  element  is  not 
represented  at  all,  and  therefore  the  division  of  the  academies, 
which  has  often  been  successfully  effected,  cannot  fairly  be 
made  a  precedent  to  be  followed  by  the  philosophical  faculties 
at  the  universities. 

Separation  might  appear  undesirable  to  the  teacher  for  still 
another  reason.  Freedom  of  instruction  is  one  of  the  first 
conditions  of  existence  for  the  German  University.  Now,  cer- 
tainly no  one  fears  that  this  highest  good  would  be  put  in 
jeopardy  by  separation.  But  the  teacher  values  this  good  so 
highly  that  the  change  of  the  university  to  a  group  of  special 
schools,  which  is  merely  hinted  at  in  separation,  fills  him  with 
alarm.  And  his  alarm  is  not  altogether  unfounded.  Both 
opponents  and  advocates  of  the  undivided  faculty  have  often 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  philosophical  group  on  the 
one  hand  stands  in  closer  relation  to  the  theological  and  juris- 
tical faculties,  and  the  physical  science  group  on  the  other  hand 
stands  in  closer  relatioff  to  the  medical  faculty,  than  the  two 
groups  stand  to  each  other.  Opponents  see  a  ground  for 
division  in  this  circumstance,18  while  the  advocates  of  union 


26  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

use  it  as  an  argument  on  their  side.19  The  latter  rightly  point 
out  that  if  aspirations  toward  the  ideal  are  no  longer  repre- 
sented in  one  body,  as  now  in  the  philosophical  faculty  over 
against  the  faculties  whose  aims  are  more  practical,  if  the  three 
other  faculties  are  no  longer  referred  to  one  common  source 
whence  they  may  draw  the  preliminary  knowledge  necessary  to 
the  attainment  of  their  special  aims,  a  mighty  bond  of  union 
that  fastens  the  single  departments  to  the  university  will  dis- 
appear, and  thereupon  the  practical  departments,  as  well  as 
the  fragments  of  the  old  philosophical  department,  will  be  in 
danger  of  forming  themselves  more  and  more  into  special 
schools,  a  danger  not  to  be  underestimated  in  view  of  the 
present  loosely-jointed  union  of  departments  at  our  German 
universities. 

But  while  the  maintenance  of  the  philosophical  faculty  in  its 
completeness  is  of  unmistakable  importance  to  the  teacher,  it 
has  no  small  significance  for  the  pupil.  Immediately  upon  his 
entrance  into  the  university  the  student  becomes  conscious  of 
this  significance.  Many  of  our  young  friends,  —  and  perhaps 
some  of  our  fellow  students  now  present  are  in  this  position, 
—  are  very  far  from  coming  to  the  university  with  a  fixed  plan 
of  study,  and  it  is  fortunate  for  them  that  the  door  of  a  great 
multiform  faculty  opens  before  them.  Taken  up  into  the  ranks 
of  the  students  of  philosophy,  they  will  choose  the  group  of 
studies  in  which  they  expect  to  make  themselves  at  home, 
without  undue  haste,  and  after  taking  proper  account  of  their 
special  talents  and  their  circumstances.  But  during  the  entire 
period  of  their  study  they  get  the  advantage  of  the  wide  horizon 
opened  to  them  in  the  undivided  faculty,  which  challenges  them 
daily  to  let  their  glance  sweep  far  beyond  the  narrow  confines  of 
their  special  study  over  other  parts  of  the  sciences  united  in  it. 

To  be  sure  the  objection  will  be  raised  that  no  one,  in  what- 
ever department  he  may  be  registered,  is  prevented  from 
attending  lectures  in  other  departments,  as   in  fact  medical  stu- 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  1J 

dents  are  in  the  habit  of  attending  a  large  number  of  natural 
science  courses ;  but  we  cannot  fail  to  see  that,  when  it  is  a 
question  of  attendance  upon  lectures  outside  of  one's  depart- 
ment, there  is  a  very  considerable  difference  between  not  for- 
bidding and  encouraging. 

But  as  the  teacher  values  freedom  of  instruction  above  all 
else,  so  freedom  of  study,  and,  in  a  wider  sense,  academic  free- 
dom is  very  dear  to  the  pupil.  And  he  may  well  be  apprehen- 
sive that  in  the  division  of  the  faculty  a  danger  really  threatens 
this  freedom.  In  fact,  does  not  this  separation  of  the  physical 
from  the  philosophical  branches  seem  like  a  first  step,  scarcely 
noticeable  perhaps  though  it  be,  toward  the  introduction  of  a 
fixed  regulation  of  studies,  which,  however  justifiable  in  a  poly- 
technic institute,  would  be  inconsistent  with  academic  freedom  ? 
Indeed,  in  his  independence  of  every  compulsory  regulation,  in 
his  unlimited  freedom,  to  determine  for  himself  his  course  of 
study,  giving  him  as  it  does  confidence  in  his  own  mature  judg- 
ment ripened  to  a  consciousness  of  self-responsibility,  consists  a 
substantial  advantage  which  the  German  student  possesses  over 
the  English  or  French  student. 

And  again,  as  the  time  approaches  for  him  to  give  an  account 
of  his  study,  it  is  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  the  student  that 
this  test  takes  place  within  the  great  undivided  faculty.  He  is 
indeed  forewarned  that  more  than  one-sided  knowledge  will  be 
required  of  him,  that  he  must  show  a  general  familiarity  with 
one  or  another  cycle  of  sciences,  but,  in  return,  a  correspond- 
ingly high  reward  beckons  him  on ;  for  the  document  which  is 
the  assurance  of  his  scientific  training  does  not  stamp  him 
merely  doctor  of  some  special  science,  but  clothes  him  with  the 
dignity  of  Doctor  of  Science,  Doctor  Philosophiae. 

That  the  argument  in  favor  of  the  continued  unity  of  the 
faculty  has  been  taken  up  on  this  occasion  more  especially 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  physicist  will  certainly  not  surprise 
any  one.     It  would  not  in  fact  be  easy  for  me,  should  I  attempt 


28  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

to  describe  for  the  benefit  of  our  philosophical  colleagues  the 
feelings  of  regard  and  esteem  which  I  have  no  doubt  they  cher- 
ish toward  us.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  if  any  one  of  them 
stood  in  my  place  he  would  pay  the  tribute  of  approval  to  the 
physicists,  as  I  have  bestowed  praise  upon  the  philosophers, 
and  that  he  would  be  just  as  sorry  not  to  see  the  natural  science 
element  in  the  faculty  as  we  should  be  to  be  deprived  of  the 
philosophical.  It  is  possible  indeed  that  he  might  see  in  this 
element  a  protection  not  to  be  despised  against  many  dangers 
which  threaten  the  philosopher  in  his  special  domain.  He 
might  perhaps  think  of  the  warning  which  the  Thracian  maid 
called  out  to  the  wise  man  of  Miletus,  when,  with  his  eyes 
fixed  upon  the  stars,  he  did  not  see  the  ditch  at  his  feet ;  or 
the  oft-quoted  words  of  Goethe  might  occur  to  him  in  a  new 
application :  — 

The  philosopher  separated  from  the  physicist 

Hebt  sich  aufwarts 

Und  berUhrt 

Mit  dem  Scheitel  die  Sterne, 

Nirgends  haften  dann 

Die  unsichem  Sohlen, 

Und  mit  ihm  spielen 

Wolken  und  Winde. 

United  with  the  physicist, 

Steht  er  mit  festen, 
Markigen  Knochen 
Auf  der  wohlgegriindeten    ♦ 
Dauernden  Erde. 

Here  I  might  stop.  But  alongside  of  the  question  of  the 
division  of  the  faculty  or  its  preservation  in  its  entirety  stands  a 
second  question  so  connected  with  it  that  with  the  solution  of 
the  one  a  step  would  be  gained  toward  a  solution  of  the  other. 
This  second  question  may  be  expressed  in  two  words  :  — 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  29 

Gymnasium  or  Realschule  ? 

For  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  this  question  has  been 
the  subject  of  a  lively  discussion,  in  which  spokesmen  from  all 
quarters  have  taken  part  and  given  various  answers  according 
to  the  party  position  of  each,  and  it  is  scarcely  more  than  a  dec- 
ade since  it  was  subjected  to  a  public  investigation,  in  the  course 
of  which  the  faculties  of  all  the  Prussian  universities  were  heard. 
Indeed  this  important  question  has  been  so  thoroughly  illustrated 
from  all  sides  that  it  may  almost  appear  a  rash  undertaking  on 
my  part  to  attempt  now  at  the  eleventh  hour  to  present  it  from 
a  new  point  of  view.  I  trust,  however,  that  I  shall  be  permitted 
to  touch  upon  the  question,  if  only  cursorily,  in  order  to  dem- 
onstrate that  the  influence  of  a  division  of  the  faculty  would 
reach  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the  university. 

Every  one  will  admit  the  justness  of  the  aims  which  the 
founders  of  the  Realschule  had  in  view.  It  is  not  strange  that 
callings  in  life,  which,  though  of  scarcely  noticeable  importance 
before  the  middle  of  the  century,  have  in  our  own  times  rapidly 
reached  an  influential  position  in  the  state  and  have  become 
conscious  of  it,  felt  the  need  of  having  their  special  work  repre- 
sented in  the  school  training.  Corresponding  to  the  university 
the  polytechnic  institute  arose,  and,  as  preparatory  to  it,  the 
Realschule,  taking  the  place  of  the  Gymnasium*  By  the  side 
of  the  old,  well-tried  form  of  higher  instruction,  a  new  system  of 
education,  sprung  from  the  new  conditions  of  existence  peculiar 
to  our  times,  came  into  being,  and  though  differing  in  aim  and 
in  the  means  employed,  took  a  place  alongside  the  elder  system 
as  its  recognized  complement. 

As  long  as  this  complementary  system  of  instruction  re- 
mained true  to  the  tasks  prescribed  by  its  origin,  it  had  the 
happiest  results.  But  it  was  soon  led  away,  by  the  movement 
to  which  it  owed  its  origin  and  direction,  far  beyond  the  goal 
originally  set  for  it.     It  was  first  of  all  the  Realschule  for  which 


30  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

a  wider  mission  was  claimed.  Why  should  not  a  school  which 
prepared  its  pupils  successfully  for  the  polytechnic  institute  be 
in  a  position  also  to  pave  their  way  to  the  university?  Mathe- 
matics, the  natural  sciences,  modern  languages,  to  which  the 
Realschule  is  particularly  devoted,  —  why  should  they  not  con- 
tain the  same  elements  of  mental  training  which  have  hitherto 
been  exclusively  accredited  to  the  classical  languages,  whose 
cultivation  is  the  care  of  the  Gymnasium?  But  if  that  is  so, 
must  not  the  view  that  preparation  for  the  universities  can  be 
found  only  in  classical  studies  be  considered  as  superseded  ? 

The  most  zealous  spokesman  of  the  new  movement  could  not 
deny  that  the  original  plan  of  studies  of  the  Realschule  would  not 
suffice  as  a  preparation  for  the  university.  The  only  question 
remaining  was  to  what  extent  the  classical  groundwork  should 
be  recognized.  The  necessity  of  incorporating  Latin,  within 
certain  limits,  into  the  system  of  instruction  did  not  seem  to 
any  one  open  to  doubt ;  and  some  voices  were  raised  too  in 
favour  of  at  least  elementary  instruction  in  Greek.20  After  great 
oscillations  of  opinion  which  have  not  yet  come  to  rest  altogether, 
there  issued  from  this  movement  the  Realschule  of  the  First  Rank 
{Realschule  crster  Ord/iung).  And  now  began  a  contest  of  rivalry 
between  the  new  school  and  the  Gymnasium,  which  though 
not  always  fortunate  for  the  former  secured  for  it  at  last  no 
mean  success,  a  contest  whose  changing  fortunes  we  have  our- 
selves witnessed.  Both  oratory  and  the  written  essay  have  done 
service  to  the  new  movement,  and  it  has  found  champions  in  city 
councils  as  well  as  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  Concessions 
have  been  made  in  authoritative  circles  to  continuous  pressure 
only  slowly  and  with  great  caution.  The  call  upon  the  faculties 
of  all  Prussian  universities  for  an  expression  of  opinion  upon  the 
question,  whether  and  to  what  extent  graduates  of  the  Realschule 
should  be  admitted  to  the  university,  will  always  be  a  striking 
testimony  to  the  earnest  care  which  has  been  bestowed  upon  this 
most  important  matter.     True,  all  of  these  numerous  bodies  have 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  3  I 

not  given  the  same  interest  to  the  question  proposed  to  them. 
The  answers  of  particular  faculties,  moreover,  have  been  in  some 
instances  assenting,  or,  if  negative,  not  unanimously  so.21  Never- 
theless the.  total  result  of  this  great  investigation  cannot  be  a 
moment  in  doubt,  and  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as  follows  : 
that  the  Realschule  of  the  first  rank,  however  generous  acknowl- 
edgement may  be  due  to  what  it  has  actually  accomplished,  is 
nevertheless  incapable  of  furnishing  a  preparation  for  academic 
studies  equal  to  that  offered  by  the  Gymnasium  ;  that  the  Real- 
schule lacks  —  this,  for  instance,  is  the  opinion  of  the  Philo- 
sophical Faculty  in  Berlin  —  a  central  point  about  which  all 
other  branches  may  group  themselves,  while  the  Gymnasium 
possesses  such  a  point  in  the  classical  languages  ;  that  all  efforts 
to  find  a  substitute  for  the  classical  languages,  whether  in  mathe- 
matics, in  the  modern  languages,  or  in  the  natural  sciences, 
have  been  hitherto  unsuccessful ;  that  after  long  and  vain 
search,  we  must  always  come  back  finally  to  the  result  of  centu- 
ries of  experience,  that  the  surest  instrument  that  can  be  used 
in  training  the  mind  of  youth  is  given  us  in  the  study  of  the 
languages,  the  literature,  and  the  works  of  art  of  classical  an- 
tiquity, f  According  to  the  unanimous  judgment  of  experienced 
teachers  in  the  departments  of  mathematics  and  the  natural 
sciences,  graduates  of  the  Realschule  are  almost  without  excep- 
tion overtaken  in  the  later  semesters  by  students  from  the 
Gymnasia,  however  much  they  may  excel  them  in  the  same 
branches  in  the  first  semester.23  Such  evidence  needs  no  com- 
ment. Still  more  convincing  is  the  outspoken  preference  for 
teachers  who  owe  their  preparation  for  the  university  to  the 
Gymnasium,  expressed  by  the  director  of  a  highly  esteemed 
industrial  school  in  a  noteworthy  school  Program.23  I  might 
add  an  experience  of  my  own  to  the  numerous  testimonies  in 
favour  of  the  Gymnasium.  I  have  never  heard  a  student  from 
a  Gymnasium  express  a  wish  that  he  might  have  received  his 
training  in  a  Realschule ;  how  often,  on  the  other  hand,  have  1" 


32  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

met  with  young  men  prepared  in  the  Realschule  who  grievously 
regretted  that  they  had  never  had  part  in  the  training  of  the 
Gymnasium  ! 

I  do  not  of  course  mean  to  assert  that  the  Realschule  does 
not  send  a  number  of  excellently  prepared  men  to  the  uni- 
versity. Young  men  of  talent  will  prepare  themselves  for  the 
academic  course  of  instruction  advantageously  in  any  school ; 
and  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  name  prominent  men  in  all  de- 
partments of  human  activity  who  have  made  their  way  without 
any  school  training  whatever.  If  we  wish  to  compare  the  rela- 
tive efficiency  of  the  two  systems  of  instruction,  we  must  keep 
in  view  the  average  capacity  of  those  who  are  to  be  instructed ; 
and  I  hardly  need  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  experience  which 
has  engaged  my  preferences  so  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  Gym- 
nasium training  is  formed  upon  observation  of  a  large  number 
of  young  men  of  average  gifts,  part  of  whom  had  their  prepara- 
tory training  at  the  Gymnasium  and  part  at  the  Realschule. 

The  views  expressed  in  the  formal  opinions  of  the  academic 
faculties  in  1869  have  had  no  influence  in  any  way  to  check 
the  success  of  the  Realschule  of  the  first  rank.  On  the  con- 
trary, the  concessions  already  granted  it  have  been  still  further 
extended,  and  its  certificate  of  graduation  entitles  its  pupils 
to-day  to  register  in  the  philosophical  department,  in  order  to 
pursue  further  certain  subjects  pertaining  to  this  department. 
These  successes  of  the  Realschule  of  the  first  rank  are  to  be 
ascribed  no  doubt  in  part  to  the  attitude  of  vacillation  or  of 
assent  of  certain  of  the  faculties ;  but  they  are  probably  more 
especially  due  to  the  belief  so  often  expressed,  that  the  official 
opinions  rendered  by  the  Prussian  faculties  in  1869  wcre  rather 
the  outcome  of  theoretical  timidity  than  the  result  of  experience 
based  upon  actual  facts. 

However,  more  than  a  decade  has  passed  since  those  opinions 
were  rendered,  and  the  question  is  surely  now  ripe  for  decision, 
how  far  practice  has  confirmed  what  theory  could  not  gain  cre- 
dence for. 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  33 

We  dare  no  longer  deceive  ourselves.  The  system  of  pre- 
paratory training  for  academic  studies  in  our  German  universities 
is  undergoing  a  significant  change.  The  number  of  Realschuler 
among  our  students  —  and  this  need  not  surprise  us — increases 
from  year  to  year.  The  statistics  of  our  own  university  leave  no 
room  for  doubt  in  this  respect.  In  the  course  of  the  past  five 
years  the  number  of  students  from  Realschulen  registered  with 
our  Philosophical  Faculty  has  nearly  trebled.  At  other  univer- 
sities there  has  been  a  similar  increase.  There  is  accordingly 
no  lack  of  practical  experience,  and  the  result  is  that  the  belief 
which  had  already  been  entertained  has  been  strengthened. 
Ideality  in  academic  study,  unselfish  devotion  to  science  for  its 
own  sake,  and  that  unshackled  activity  of  thought  which  is  at 
once  the  condition  and  the  consequence  of  such  devotion,  retire 
more  and  more  into  the  background  as  the  classical  ground- 
work of  our  mental  life  found  in  the  Gymnasium  is  withdrawn 
from  the  pre-university  course.  This  is,  to  be  sure,  in  the  first 
instance,  only  a  personal  belief  drawn  from  personal  experience; 
but  I  will  not  omit  to  say  that  I  have  had  abundant  opportunity 
to  discuss  the  subject  with  friends  connected  with  the  physical 
and  mathematical  sciences,  and  I  have  found  them  almost  with- 
out exception  firm  in  the  same  conviction. 

The  form  and  contents  of  university  instruction,  however,  will 
always  be  dependent  on  the  amount  of  preparation  which  the 
student  brings  with  him  to  the  university.  A  falling  off  in  the 
requirements  of  this  preparatory  training  will  inevitably  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  lowering  of  the  character  of  university  instruction 
itself.  Would  then,  under  such  circumstances,  the  German 
university,  the  glorious  centre  of  our  civilization  and  the  object 
of  the  emulous  admiration  of  other  nations,  remain  much  longer 
what  it  has  been  for  so  many  years  ? 

It  is  not  my  task  to-day  to  enter  upon  the  solution  of  this 
question.  It  lies  also  beyond  the  limits  of  this  address  to 
examine  the  means  by  which  the  danger  of  a  lowering  of  the 


34  INAUGURAL    ADDRESS. 

standard  of  preparation  for  the  university  might  be  successfully 
met.  It  will  seem  to  many  that  the  best  remedy  must  come 
from  the  Gymnasium  itself.  The  Gymnasium,  it  must  be 
thankfully  recognized,  has  enjoyed  for  many  years  the  unremit- 
ting care  and  attention  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  influ- 
ential circles,  who  have  taken  upon  themselves  with  enthusiasm 
the  advancement  of  this  nursery  of  our  youth.  But  these  very 
men  recognize,  perhaps  better  than  any  one  else,  the  fact  that 
the  Gymnasium  is  to-day  susceptible  of  improvement  in  many 
directions,  especially  in  its  methods  of  instruction,  without  in 
any  way  imperilling  the  well-tried  foundations  of  its  efficiency. 
Perhaps  this  very  Reahchule  movement  is  playing  into  the  hands 
of  such  reformatory  efforts;  perhaps  in  so  doing  it  fulfils  its 
proper  mission.  The  men  who  direct  our  schools  have  indeed 
a  far-reaching  and  difficult  task  laid  upon  them,  and  they  need 
not  be  discouraged  if  it  cannot  be  at  once  accomplished.  They 
must  not  forget  that  when  it  is  a  question  of  changes  in  a  pro- 
duct of  ages  the  results  effected  even  by  decades  cannot  be  of 
much  significance.  If  in  our  time  the  idea  has  become  widely 
extended  that,  because  physical  science  has  taught  us  to  de- 
spatch our  thoughts  with  the  swiftness  of  lightning  from  hemi- 
sphere to  hemisphere,  the  process  of  thinking  itself  goes  on 
more  swiftly  and  more  easily,  this  is  a  fundamental  error.  We 
do  not  think  to-day  any  more  quickly  than  we  did  yesterday, 
and  —  those  who  were  charged  with  the  preparation  of  the  edu- 
cation law  will  certainly  bear  me  out  in  this  —  good  ideas  have 
not  become  cheaper  than  they  were  at  any  earlier  period.  We 
must  not  therefore  be  surprised  if  our  efforts  to  establish  a 
Gymnasium  which  will  answer  all  requirements  are  not  crowned 
to-day,  nor  yet  to-morrow,  with  brilliant  success. 

Many  of  you,  my  hearers,  have  long  since  perhaps  reproached 
me  with  losing  sight  completely  of  the  subject  of  my  discourse. 
Have  I  really  lost  sight  of  it?  I  think  not.  When  I  raise  my 
voice  in  behalf  of  the  Gymnasium,  I  am  arguing  in  favour  of  an 


INAUGURAL    ADDRESS.  35 

undivided  faculty.  The  advocates  of  secession  are  labouring, 
perhaps  without  being  clearly  conscious  of  it  themselves,  toward 
the  same  end  as  the  partisans  of  the  Realschule,  —  tne  recog- 
nition of  a  preparatory  training  for  the  university  founded  upon  a 
new  basis,  or  as  they  themselves  love  to  call  it,  a  break  with  the 
medieval  view  that  this  preparatory  training  is  to  be  found  only 
in  the  study  of  the  humanities.  Every  cleft  in  a  philosophical 
faculty  brings  water  to  the  Realschule  mill.  The  mighty  wall 
of  protection  about  the  Gymnasium  is  the  close  phalanx  of  the 
undivided  philosophical  faculty. 

A  few  words  more,  and  I  am  done.  It  may  seem  to  some 
here  and  there  in  this  assembly  that  I  have  spoken  with  refer- 
ence to  some  dissension  that  threatens  us  in  the  immediate, 
future.  Such  a  supposition  might  find  support  perhaps  in  trie 
fact  that  the  membership  of  our  philosophical  faculty  is  so  very 
large,  larger  than  that  of  any  other  German  university,  larger 
even  than  the  entire  membership  of  all  the  faculties  in  many  a 
German  university.  But  such  a  supposition  would  be  entirely 
erroneous.  I  had  no  reason  for  treating  my  academic  theme 
otherwise  than  in  a  purely  academic  manner.  In  the  course  of 
the  fifteen  years  during  which  I  have  had  the  honour  to  belong 
to  the  philosophical  faculty  of  this  University,  the  idea  of  sep- 
aration has  never  even  been  suggested;  and  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult, I  am  sure,  to  find  a  body  in  which  the  conviction  that 
all  its  members  belong  together,  the  consciousness  of  strength 
springing  from  variety  in  its  composition,  the  feeling  of  unity 
and  indivisibility,  are  more  actively  developed  than  in  our  own 
philosophical  faculty.  And  this  consciousness  of  our  solidar- 
ity, this  feeling  of  our  unity,  is  but  a  feature  of  that  higher  spirit 
of  community  by  virtue  of  which  the  different  faculties  recognize 
that  they  are  sisters,  equally  privileged  daughters  of  Alma  Mater, 
that  spirit  which  is  the  foundation  of  our  university,  and  whose 
breath  preserves  the  bloom  of  our  great  school  unfaded.  In 
this  spirit  let  us  enter  upon  the  year  of  study  now  opening 
before  us  viribus  unit'.s  / 


Opinion  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty  of  the  Royal  Frederick- 
William  University  of  Berlin  concerning  the  Admission  of 
Graduates  of  Realschulen  to  the  University,  presented  to 
His  Excellency,  Dr.  von  Muhler,  Royal  Minister  of  State, 
on  December  ij}  i86p. 


V    OF   THE         ->^ 

^U  IT  EH  SIT  Y, 


Berlin,  December  13,  1869. 

Your  Excellency  :  — 

In  the  rescript  of  November  9,  transmitted  by  the  Rector 
and  Senate  to  the  Philosophical  Faculty  on  November  24, 
Your  Excellency  has  requested  an  opinion  on  the  question  :  — 

"Whether  and  to  what  extent  graduates  of  Realschulen  should 
be  admitted  to  the  departments  of  the  Universities." 

The  Faculty,  having  taken  the  subject  anew  into  serious  con- 
sideration, hasten  most  respectfully  to  present  their  views  to 
Your  Excellency. 

.  While  the  University  has  no  reason  to  withhold  its  advantages, 
it  must  not,  in  its  desire  to  make  the  higher  education  accessible 
to  the  greatest  possible  number,  forget  its  peculiar  purpose  and 
its  historical  task.  Its  duty  is  to  fit  the  youth  for  the  service  of 
State  and  Church,  after  they  have  received  sufficient  prepara- 
tion. The  view  that  the  complete  Gymnasium  course  is  such  a 
preparation  is  to-day  still  fully  justified.  The  instruction  of  the 
Gymnasium  centres  in  the  classical  languages,  the  methodical 
study  of  which  necessarily  carries  with  it  manifold  logical  and 
historical  training.  They  furnish  the  most  difficult,  and  for 
that  very  reason  also  the  most  effective  instrument  of  instruc- 
tion, and  it  is  for  the  interest  of  the  State  that  all  to  whom  it 
expects  to  intrust  its  offices  should  go  through  this  intellectual 
training,  substantially  complemented  as  it  is  by  mathematical 
instruction,  and  thus  gain  for  themselves  a  liberal  and  many- 
sided  culture,  such  as  they  could  not  attain  in  any  other  way. 
Such  is  the  close  tie  between  the  University  and  the  Gymna- 
sium, which  has  proved  itself  since  the  Reformation  the  corner- 
stone of  German  culture. 

By  the  side  of  the  Gymnasium  a  species  of  schools  has 
developed  itself  in  recent  years,  which  have  been  gradually  pro- 


40  OPINION    OF    1869. 

vided,  in  analogy  with  the  Gymnasium,  with  a  series  of  rights  and 
privileges, —  schools  which  have  been  called  forth  by  a  need 
lying  quite  apart  from  the  University,  and  whose  office  is  to  fur- 
nish a  fitting  preparation  for  the  higher  industrial  positions.  If 
it  is  further  claimed  for  these  schools  that  the  preparation 
which  they  furnish  is  to  be  regarded  as  sufficient  for  the  Uni- 
versity also,  then  it  becomes  necessary  to  look  more  sharply  at 
their  character  and  at  the  results  which  they  accomplish. 

They  also  aim  at  a  certain  completeness  of  education,  and  it 
might  seem  that  the  lower  grade  of  training  of  the  Realschi'dcr 
in  one  branch  of  study  would  be  compensated  for  by  greater 
proficiency  in  another.  The  Realschule  fixes  a  higher  standard 
in  mathematics  certainly,  but  the  end  which  it  attains  always 
depends  finally  on  the  personality  of  the  teacher;  there  are 
Gymnasia  which  accomplish  just  as  much ;  and  on  the  whole 
the  start  gained  by  the  average  Realschuler,  so  far  as  concerns 
his  ability  to  acquire  the  higher  mathematics,  is  insignificant. 
In  regard  to  the  natural  sciences,  the  most  notable,  of  our 
chemists  and  physicists,  as  well  as  the  representatives  of  the 
other  departments,  agree  that  the  students  from  the  Gymnasia 
on  the  average  accomplish  more.  It  is  the  general  experience 
that  the  foretaste  of  these  sciences  obtained  in  the  Realschule 
frequently  dulls  rather  than  stimulates  eagerness  for  knowledge. 
Still  less  are  the  modern  languages  able  to  take  the  place  of 
Greek  and  Latin ;  for,  since  as  a  rule  the  only  thing  aimed  at 
in  their  study  is  a  certain  facility  of  use,  they  cannot  serve  in 
equal  manner  as  an  instrument  of  culture.  The  main  point  is 
that  the  instruction  given  in  the  Realschule  lacks  a  central 
point ;  hence  the  unsteadiness  in  its  system  of  teaching.  It 
embraces  a  collection  of  studies  most  of  which  cannot  be  pur- 
sued with  the  requisite  thoroughness  within  the  limits  of  the 
school.  In  a  word,  it  has  not  been  possible  to  find  an  equiva- 
lent for  the  classical  languages  as  a  centre  of  instruction ; 
and  therefore  the  University  cannot  deem  it  advisable  for  the 


OPINION    OF     1869.  41 

State  to  cease  to  require  a  Gymnasium  training  for  its  future 
functionaries. 

While,  moreover,  the  Realschulc,  in  accordance  with  the 
inherent  nature  of  industrial  conditions,  seeks  to  hasten  the 
period  of  graduation  and  dismisses  its  pupils  generally  a  year 
earlier  than  the  Gymnasium,  it  is  not  in  the  interest  of  the 
University  to  desire  an  increase  in  the  number  of  students  of 
seventeen  years  of  age.  It  is  rather  a  matter  of  importance  to 
all  the  faculties  that  they  shall  have  a  body  of  young  men 
more  mature  in  age  and  training.  The  philosophical  department 
has  a  peculiar  interest  of  its  own  in  seeing  that  the  requirement 
of  a  classical  education  is  not  departed  from,  because  it  educates 
the  teaching  class.  For  while  the  training  of  the  Gymnasium  is 
an  indispensable  dowry  for  every  department  of  science  and  for 
every  higher  official  calling,  it  is  especially  so  for  the  teacher. 

The  Realscliulen  are  attended  mainly  by  those  who  wish  to 
avoid  the  severe  labour  of  Greek  and  Latin.  If  the  graduates 
of  these  schools,  after  the  expiration  of  their  three  years'  Uni- 
versity course,  could  become  in  turn  themselves  teachers  in 
Realscliulen,  a  constant  falling  off  in  standards  would  be  un- 
avoidable ;  and  hence  the  directors  of  Realscliulen  themselves, 
who  have  the  highest  conception  of  the  special  work  of  their 
institutions,  have  with  great  decision  fixed  the  requirement  that 
teachers  in  the  Realschulc,  like  teachers  in  the  Gymnasium, 
shall  be  such  as  have  had  a  classical  training,  —  that  is,  such 
as  have  been  prepared  for  their  profession  in  the  Gymnasium 
and  the  University.  {Kern,  Viertcr  Jahresbericht  tiber  die 
Louise nstddtische  Gewerbeschule,  1869,  P-  I3-)  Thus  the  fitness 
of  the  Realschule  to  serve  as  a  nursery  for  its  own  future  teachers 
is  denied  by  its  own  representatives. 

That  which  undoubtedly  applies  to  those  who  are  perfecting 
themselves  for  the  profession  of  teaching  is  just  as  true  of  all 
branches  of  study  that  are  accustomed  to  serve  as  a  preparation 
for  the  higher  executive  positions,  and  especially  docs  it  apply 


42  OPINION    OF    1869. 

to  the  administrators  of  the  public  moneys  (Camera/is ten) ,  who 
must  not  be  without  the  breadth  of  view  and  historical  culture 
given  by  the  Gymnasium.  Nay,  even  in  the  circles  for  whose 
benefit  the  RealscJuilcn  originated,  in  the  great  commercial 
houses  and  in  industrial  institutions,  the  experience  of  our  times 
proves  that  those  young  men  are  more  welcome  who  come 
from  the  Prima  of  a  Gymnasium.  If  then,  in  those  very 
circles,  an  unmistakable  counter-current  has  set  in  against 
the  earlier  over-rating  of  the  Realschule,  why  should  the  Uni- 
versity surrender  its  organic  union  with  the  Gymnasium,  and 
be  willing  to  obliterate  a  distinction  in  education  whose  exist- 
ence cannot  be  denied? 

Extraordinary  talents  will  always  make  a  way  for  themselves 
to  public  appreciation.  But  the  Faculty  are  compelled  to  give 
their  entire  recognition  and  approval  to  what  lias  hitherto  been 
the  rule,  that  in  the  case  of  every  one  who  aspires  to  the  service 
of  the  State  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  his  education  has 
been,  up  to  the  beginning  of  his  academical  career,  liberal,  gen- 
eral, and  not  narrowed  by  considerations  of  future  professional 
aims,  and  to  utter  a  warning  against  the  surrender  of  that  which 
has  been  till  now  the  common  basis  of  training  of  all  the  higher 
public  functionaries,  and  which,  if  it  be  once  given  up,  can 
never  be  regained. 

The  University  does  not  close  its  doors  to  those  young  men 
who  have  not  pursued  classical  studies.  For,  although  it  dis- 
tinguishes between  graduates  and  non-graduates,  admitting  the 
latter  at  first  to  matriculation  for  three  semesters  only,  still  this 
period,  which  is  measured  by  the  average  need  of  non-graduates, 
can  be  extended  without  difficulty,  and  even  where  by  legisla- 
tive provision  matriculation  is  not  possible,  the  Rector  may,  in 
proper  cases,  grant  permission  to  attend  lectures.  Further  prop- 
ositions to  facilitate  the  entrance  of  non-graduates  were  sug- 
gested in  the  report  on  the  matriculation  of  imma/uri,  which  was 
submitted  to  Your  Excellency  by  the  Faculty  on  Dec.  3,  1868. 


OPINION    OF     1869.  43 

Aside  from  these  formalities  attending  the  reception  of  stu- 
dents, no  distinctions  of  any  kind  exist.  The  University  offers 
the  same  opportunities  to  all,  and  puts  the  immaturi  legally  on 
the  same  level  with  the  other  students. 

Any  further  concession  to  the  demands  of  the  Realschule 
would  mean  that  the  University  ceased  to  regard  the  Gymnasium 
training  as  the  only  regular  preparatory  course,  and  recognized 
on  equal  terms  a  standard  of  culture  which  cannot  in  its  eyes 
pass  for  the  same  thing.  The  Philosophical  Faculty  cannot 
give  their  consent  to  such  a  movement.  They  are  convinced 
that  no  sufficient  compensation  is  given  in  the  Realschule  for 
the  lack  of  classical  education.  They  fear  that  so  decided  a 
lowering  of  standards  would  be  accompanied  by  weighty  con- 
sequences, especially  in  such  a  state  as  Prussia. 

The  Faculty,  therefore,  believe  they  owe  it  to  the  University 
and  to  the  State  to  declare  themselves  in  the  most  positive 
manner  against  a  more  extensive  admission  of  Realschuler,  that 
is,  against  placing  them  on  exactly  the  same  footing  with  grad- 
uates of  Gymnasia. 

The  Dean  and  Professors  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty  of  the 
Royal  Frederick-  William   University  of  Berlin. 

Curtius, Dean. 

HAUPT.  MtJLLENHOFF.  KlRCHHOFF.  DOVE. 

Trendelenburg.  Rodiger.  M.  Ohm.  G.  Rose. 

Droysex.  Weierstrass.  von  Raumer.  Magnus. 

Kummer.         Weber.         Harms.         Beyrich.        W.  Peters. 

Mommsen.  A.  Braun.  E.  Helwing. 

To  His  Excellency,  Dr.  von  Muhler, 

Royal  Minister  of  State,  &c,  &c. 


Opinion  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty  of  the  Royal  Frederick- 
William  University  of  Berlin  concerning  the  Admission  of 
Graduates  of  Realschulen  to  the  University,  presented  to 
His  Excellency,  Herr  von  Puttkamer,  Royal  Minister  of 
State,  on  March  8,  1880. 


UN  ITER  SIT 

Berlin,  March  8,  r88o. 
Your  Excellency  :  — 

The  undersigned,  the  members  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty 
of  the  Royal  Frederick- William  University,  take  the  liberty  of 
presenting  the  following  considerations  to  Your  Excellency,  in 
discharge  of  their  duty  to  that  portion  of  the  University  studies 
entrusted  to  their  care. 

It  was  determined  by  a  ministerial  decree  of  December  7, 
1870,  that  in  the  case  of  such  subjects  of  the  realm  as  should 
desire  to  be  matriculated  in  the  Philosophical  Faculty  of  a 
Prussian  National  University  for  the  purpose  of  pursuing  the 
study  of  mathematics,  the  natural  sciences,  or  modern  foreign 
languages,  the  diploma  of  a  Prussian  Realschule  of  the  first  rank 
might  be  substituted  for  that  of  the  Gymnasium.  In  the  course 
of  the  negotiations  which  preceded  this  decree,  the  Philosophi- 
cal Faculty  of  this  University  stated  with  great  decision  that  they 
considered  it  imperative,  in  the  interest  of  the  thorough  and 
symmetrical  preparatory  training  of  their  students,  to  hold  fast 
to  the  requirement  of  a  Gymnasium  preparation  for  all  branches 
of  study  falling  within  their  jurisdiction.  And  now  that  in  the 
case  of  a  number  of  those  studies  this  requirement  has  been 
set  aside  for  more  than  ten  years,  they  deem  it  neither  prema- 
ture nor  superfluous  to  lay  before  Your  Excellency  the  results 
of  their  experience  during  that  time  with  reference  to  the  effect 
of  the  change  introduced,  respectfully  pointing  out  at  the  same 
time  that  the  practical  effects  of  the  arrangement  at  present 
existing  could  not,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  be  seen  until 
sometime  after  its  first  introduction  on  a  large  scale. 

The  undersigned,  the  members  of  this  Faculty,  find  them- 
selves the    more    urgently  challenged  to    this    presentation    of 


48  OPINION    OF    1880. 

their  views,  the  more  unmistakable  it  becomes  that  the  number 
and  the  percentage  of  Realschiiler  among  their  students  have 
been  constantly  increasing  in  recent  years.  While  during  the 
winter  half-year  of  1875-76  of  705  Prussians  matriculated  in 
the  philosophical  department  56  were  newly  admitted  Real- 
schuler,  that  is  not  quite  8  per  cent,  in  the  current  winter 
half-year  of  1879-80  of  1299  matriculated  Prussians  144  entered 
from  Realschitlen,  that  is  more  than  n  per  cent;1  and  this 
increase  becomes  still  more  striking  if  we  base  the  comparison 
upon  the  single  sciences  to  which  Realschiiler  have  access. 
In  1875-76  among  214  native  students  of  mathematics  and 
the  natural  sciences  there  were  1 7  Realschiiler,  that  is  not  8  per 
cent;  in  1879-80  among  460  there  are  69,  or  15  per  cent. 
And  the  increase  would  be  found  to  be  equally  large  among 
the  students  of  modern  languages,  with  regard  to  whom  we 
have  not  exact  information  at  hand. 

It  has  not  been  possible  for  all  the  members  of  our  Faculty 
of  whose  instruction  Realschiiler  take  advantage  to  institute 
observations  concerning  the  success  of  such  scholars  among  the 
different  classes  of  their  pupils,  and  the  conclusions  of  indi- 
vidual members  do  not  always  agree ;  but  the  great  majority  of 
us  who  are  in  a  position  to  give  an  opinion  at  all  have  found 
the  apprehensions  with  which  the  Faculty  as  early  as  1869 
felt  compelled  to  regard  the  admission  of  Realschiiler  to 
the  University  by  no  means  allayed  by  our  subsequent  experi- 
.ence. 

Those  representatives  of  the  mathematical  branches  whose 
lectures  are  more  particularly  attended  by  students  in  the 
first  semesters,  it  is  true,  say  that  they  have  observed  no 
difference  between  graduates  of  Gymnasia  and  Realschulcn  in 
the  results  of  their  studies ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  both  of  the 
full  professors  who  are  accustomed  to  give  instruction  in  the 
higher  mathematics  hold  without  change  to  the  verdict  already 

1  Compare  the  statistics  quoted  in  the  Preface,  page  3.     A.  W.  H. 


OPINION    OF     l880.  49 

repeatedly  given  by  them,  that  the  students  of  mathematics  who 
have  been  prepared  in  the  Gymnasia,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 
less  time  is  devoted  to  this  branch  in  the  Gymnasium  than  in 
the  Realscliule,  are  nevertheless,  as  a  rule,  superior  to  their 
fellow-students  from  the  Realschule  in  scientific  impulse  and 
apprehension,  and  in  capacity  for  a  deeper  understanding  of 
their  science. 

In  concurrence  with  this,  the  representative  of  the  astrono- 
mical department  announces  it  as  his  experience,  almost  without 
exception,  as  well  in  the  observatory  as  in  the  central  office  of 
the  government  department  of  weights  and  measures,  that  the 
young  men  who  have  received  their  preparatory  training  in  the 
Realschule,  although  at  first,  perhaps,  better  informed  and  more 
apt  than  those  who  have  been  prepared  in  the  Gymnasium, 
nevertheless  cannot  in  the  end  bear  comparison  with  the  latter, 
their  further  development  being  slower,  more  superficial,  and 
less  independent,  while  they  suffer  especially  in  a  greater  degree 
from  whims  of  independence  and  lack  of  self-knowledge. 

It  is  also  emphasized  by  the  instructors  of  chemistry  that 
graduates  of  Realschulen  do  not  stand  upon  the  same  level  with 
graduates  of  Gymnasia.  Professor  Hofmann  observes  that  the 
students  from  Realschulen,  in  consequence  of  their  being  con- 
versant with  a  large  number  of  facts,  outrank,  as  a  rule,  those 
from  the  Gymnasia  during  the  experimental  exercises  of  the 
first  semester,  but  that  the  relation  is  soon  reversed,  and,  given 
equal  abilities,  the  latter  almost  invariably  carry  off  the  honours 
in  the  end ;  that  the  latter  are  mentally  better  trained,  and 
have  acquired  in  a  higher  degree  the  ability  to  understand  and 
solve  scientific  problems.  Professor  Hofmann  adds  that  his  own 
experience  in  these  matters  is  by  no  means  new ;  that  Liebig 
expressed  himself  at  various  times  to  the  same  effect.  Professor 
Rammelsberg  says,  with  regard  to  the  students  of  the  tech- 
nological schools  who  attend  his  lectures  on  chemistry  in  the 
first  semester,  that  those  of  them  who  come  from  the    Gym- 


50  OPINION    OF    l880. 

nasia,  although  without  any  previous  acquaintance  with  the 
subject,  evince  nevertheless  a  more  lively  interest  than  the 
graduates  of  Realschulen  and  industrial  schools,  who,  in  con- 
sequence of  their  greater  familiarity  with  the  sciences  treated, 
listen  with  a  certain  indifference.  He  says  it  has  also  been  his 
experience  in  the  examinations  at  the  close  of  the  semester  that 
the  Gymnasium  men  stand  relatively  better  than  the  other 
classes  of  pupils,  from  whom  certainly  greater  results  would 
naturally  be  expected. 

Professor  Peters,  one  of  the  instructors  of  the  descriptive 
natural  sciences,  observes  that  in  the  students  from  Real- 
schulen whose  acquaintance  he  has  made  in  zoological  exercises 
and  examinations  he  has  been  struck  by  their  defective  knowl- 
edge not  only  of  the  Latin  but  also  of  the  English  and  French 
languages  ;  that  the  names  and  terms  borrowed  from  the  Greek 
cannot  be  made  clear  to  them,  and  their  want  of  practice  in 
Latin  is  very  much  felt  by  reason  of  the  large  number  of  zoo- 
logical works  composed  in  that  language.  Assistant  Professor 
von  Martens,  drawing  from  his  experience  with  Realschule  stu- 
dents, —  which  it  must  be  noted  is  limited,  as  he  himself  says,  to 
a  small  number  of  generally  zealous  specialists,  —  renders 
a  more  favourable  verdict,  in  so  far  as  he  states  that  he  has 
perceived  no  difference  between  them  and  other  students,  in 
power  of  observation,  accuracy  in  discriminating  observed 
facts,  and  in  scientific  zeal,  industry,  and  persistence.  But  he 
also  says  that  they  often  evince  less  cleverness  and  more  dull- 
ness in  comprehending  and  expressing  again  what  they  have 
heard  than  those  who  have  been  prepared  at  the  Gymnasium. 

Among  the  representatives  of  the  modern  languages,  Profes- 
sor Tobler,  whose  department  is  the  French  language  and 
literature,  expressed  himself  on  a  previous  occasion  to  the  effect 
that,  among  the  students  of  modern  philology  registered  in  his 
seminary  (relatively  not  a  very  large  number  be  it  said),  he  had 
not  observed  any  considerable  difference  between  men  from  the 


OPINION    OF     188O.  51 

Gymnasium  and  the  Realschule  as  regarded  their  scientific 
capacity.  On  the  other  hand  the  instructor  in  the  English 
language  and  literature,  Professor  Zupitza,  has  found  in  his 
seminary  exercises  that  in  the  case  of  many  Realschiller  their 
attainments  in  Latin  are  not  so  trustworthy  as  would  be  desir- 
able for  a  profitable  scientific  study  of  his  branch,  while  he  has 
not  been  struck  with  the  same  deficiency  in  men  from  the 
Gymnasia.  In  like  manner  he  has  often  felt  the  want  of  a 
knowledge  of  Greek  on  the  part  of  this  portion  of  his  hearers, 
making  grammatical  instruction  more  difficult.  But  the  cir- 
cumstance seems  to  him  still  more  important  that  among  the 
Realschule  men  acuteness  of  apprehension  and  independence  • 
of  judgment  have  been  almost  entirely  lacking,  so  that  with  all 
their  industry  they  are  generally  able  to  cover  in  their  work  only 
such  ground  as  has  been  marked  out  for  them.  The  examina- 
tions in  English  also  which  Professor  Zupitza  had  to  undertake 
as  a  member  of  the  scientific  examining  commission  showed  on 
the  average  more  favourable  results  in  the  case  of  men  from  the 
Gymnasium. 

Of  the  representatives  of  the  German  language  and  litera- 
ture, Professor  MullenhorT  sums  up  the  results  of  a  detailed  and 
thorough  discussion  with  the  words :  "  Judging  from  my  expe- 
rience it  is  simply  impossible  for  one  who  has  been  prepared 
in  the  Realschule  to  acquire  a  satisfactory  scientific  education. 
No  man  acquires  it  by  means  of  the  modern  languages 
alone,  nor  without  a  solid  foundation  in  the  training  of  the 
Gymnasium."  And  Professor  Scherer,  the  second  regular  in- 
structor in  this  branch,  complains  of  the  difficulties  which 
beset  instruction  in  this  department,  if  the  teacher  cannot  be 
sure  that  the  most  elementary  comparison  of  a  German  with  a 
Greek  form  of  speech  will  be  understood  by  all  of  his  hearers, 
and  does  not  know  whether  the  great  Greek  models  of  German 
literature,  whose  development  he  is  about  to  present,  are  at 
least  in  some  measure  familiar  to  them  all. 


52  OPINION    OF    l880. 

As  regards  the  philosophical  lectures,  Professor  Zeller  de- 
clares that  the  Realscliiikr,  who  attend  them  in  large  numbers 
on  account  of  the  requirements  of  the  examinations  for  the 
higher  school  employments,  are  always  a  cause  of  embarrass- 
ment to  him ;  for,  not  only  in  the  history  of  ancient  philosophy, 
but  also  in  other  philosophical  systems,  by  reason  of  the  close 
relation  between  modern  and  ancient  philosophy  and  their  ter- 
minologies, a  large  portion  of  lectures  which  are  calculated  for 
the  wants  and  understanding  of  students  with  classical  training 
must  necessarily  remain  more  or  less  unintelligible  to  those  of 
his  hearers  to  whom  the  Greek  language  is  totally  unfamiliar 
and  who  lack  a  living  acquaintance  with  Greek  antiquity. 

Of  the  instructors  in  economics  and  statistics,  Professor  Meit- 
zen  says  that  in  the  young  men  without  the  Gymnast'// m 
training  who  were  occupied  in  the  statistical  bureau  he  con- 
stantly found,  even  when  they  had  completed  a  course  in  some 
academical  study,  that  they  had  no  clear  consciousness  of  their 
own  scientific  capacity  and  no  sure  insight  into  the  growth  of 
man's  mental  life. 

To  the  undersigned  Faculty  these  verdicts  of  so  many  of  their 
instructors  can  serve  only  to  strengthen  their  conviction  that 
the  preparatory  education  which  is  acquired  in  the  Realschulcii 
of  the  first  rank  is,  taken  altogether,  inferior  to  that  which  is 
guaranteed  by  the  diploma  of  a  Gymnasium,  not  only  because 
ignorance  of  Greek  and  deficient  knowledge  of  Latin  oppose 
great  obstacles  to  the  pursuit  of  many  branches  of  study  which 
are  not  by  law  closed  to  graduates  of  Realschulen,  but  also  and 
above  all  because  the  ideality,  of  the  scientific  sense,  interest 
in  learning  not  dependent  upon  nor  limited  by  practical  aims 
but  ministering  to  the  liberal  education  of  the  mind  as  such, 
the  many-sided  and  widely-extended  exercise  of  the  thinking 
power,  and  an  acquaintance  with  the  classical  bases  of  our  sci- 
ence and  our  civilization,  can  be  satisfactorily  cultivated  only 
in   our  institutions  of  classical  learning.     The  Faculty  find  a 


OPINION    OF     l880.  53 

remarkable  confirmation  of  this  conviction  in  what  has  come 
to  their  knowledge  concerning  the  results  of  the  examinations 
held  by  the  scientific  examining  commission  for  the  Province 
of  Brandenburg.  Of  sixteen  graduates  of  Realscliulen  exam- 
ined by  this  commission  since  1876,  four  had  to  be  rejected  on 
account  of  insufficient  attainments  ;  of  the  remaining  twelve  not 
one  received  a  certificate  of  the  first  rank,  five  received  one 
of  the  second,  and  seven  one  of  the  third ;  of  these  twelve, 
moreover,  not  less  than  nine  had  to  undergo  a  subsequent 
examination,  in  order  to  complete  the  evidence  of  their  gen- 
eral scientific  training,  partly  in  religion,  partly  in  Latin,  and 
partly  and  especially  in  philosophy ;  and  also  in  the  ^.case  of 
the  three  others  their  knowledge  of  philosophy  appeared  only 
barely  satisfactory.  Such  results  cannot  but  strengthen  the 
view  that  graduates  oil  Realscliulen  very  often  lack  the  degree 
of  general  scientific  preliminary  training  required  for  a  success- 
ful course  of  University  study. 

This  defective  preparation,  however,  not  only  interferes  with 
the  success  of  the  studies  of  those  directly  affected,  but,  as  our 
Faculty  have  already  pointed  out,  it  reacts  injuriously  on  the 
entire  instruction  in  all  the  lectures  which  are  attended  in  any 
large  number  by  students  of  this  class.  For  it  compels  the  in- 
structor either  to  descend  to  the  level  of  his  poorer  pupils,  and 
by  so  doing  to  weary  those  who  are  better  prepared  and  curtail 
what  might  have  been  imparted  to  them,  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  he  does  not  take  this  difference  into  consideration,  to 
lecture  with  the  crippling  consciousness  that  a  part  of  his 
hearers  do  not  fully  understand  him.  Instruction,  to  be  fresh, 
confident,  and  successful,  must  be  fitted  to  the  capacity  of  the 
pupils.  If  their  capacity  is  unequal/these  qualities  must  una- 
voidably suffer  more  or  less  severely  from  such  an  evil  state  of 
affairs. 

But  while  we  lament  this  condition  of  things  in  the  interest 
of  University  studies  as  such,  we  cannot  refrain  from  pointing 


54  OPINION    OF    188O. 

out  the  further  consequences,  affecting  the  entire  scope  of  our 
education,  that  threaten  to  follow  from  the  change  in  regulations 
concerning  preparatory  academical  studies  which  has  been  in- 
troduced within  the  past  ten  years,  and  the  results  of  which  are 
becoming  more  and  more  obvious. 

The  large  number  of  students  registered  in  the  departments 
of  philology,  mathematics  and  the  natural  sciences  (780  since 
Michaelmas,  1875)  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  intention  of  many 
of  them  to  enter  at  some  time  the  profession  of  teaching  in  the 
higher  schools  and  perhaps  in  the  Universities;  and  the  modi- 
fications in  the  regulations  for  scientific  examining  commis- 
sions, issued  within  the  past  ten  years  or  recently  prepared, 
show  that  this  intention  is  recognized  and  encouraged  by  the 
authorities. 

The  interest  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty  in  this  rapidly 
advancing  change  is  by  no  means  limited  to  the  question 
whether  the  elements  thus  incorporated  bring  with  them  the 
preparation  which  the  Faculty  must  take  for  granted  in  their 
instruction. 

If  the  system  of  instruction  in  the  Rea/schuk,  however  excel- 
lent for  its  purpose,  is  in  all  essential  characteristics  different  from 
that  of  the  Gymnasium,  and  nevertheless  both  have  equal  recog- 
nition, then  a  kind  of  double  standard  is  introduced  which  gives 
occasion  for  serious  apprehensions.  For  the  fact  that  our  Real- 
schulen  of  the  first  rank  dispense  with  Greek  altogether  and  in 
Latin  stop  several  steps  lower  than  the  Gymnasium  exerts  upon 
the  sum  total  of  the  intellectual  training  and  preparation  which 
they  afford  an  influence  very  noticeable  in  its  wider  consequen- 
ces. Our  higher  scientific  and,  in  an  intellectual  sense,  national 
education,  will,  in  proportion  as  the  preparatory  studies  pursued 
in  our  Rcalschulen  gain  wider  authority,  lose,  together  with  its 
hitherto  uniform  foundation,  advantages  which  we  perhaps  value 
too  lightly  while  they  are  still  in  our  possession. 

France,  who  demolished  her  ancient  educational  system  in 


OPINION    OF    l88o.  55 

the  tumult  of  the  Revolution,  and  then  in  the  time  of  the 
Directory  and  Consulate  set  up  the  polytechnic  system  of 
instruction  in  its  place,  has  been  labouring  with  the  greatest 
exertion  for  twenty  years  to  bring  into  use  again  the  formative 
power  of  classical  studies  for  instruction  in  higher  schools. 

Hitherto  our  three  higher  Faculties  have  been  able  to  pro- 
tect themselves  against  the  admission  of  students  who  have  been 
prepared  at  Realschulen.  Seeing  that  the  practical  aim  of  most, 
if  not  all,  of  the  students  in  the  fourth  Faculty  prepared  in 
such  schools  is  to  enter  the  higher  field  of  teaching,  our  higher 
schools  are  in  danger  of  receiving  a  constantly  increasing  num- 
ber of  teachers  who  do  not  possess  the  kind  and  amount  of 
scientific  preparation  which  the  graduates  of  our  Gymnasia 
must  have  exhibited  in  order  to  obtain  their  diplomas. 

This  injury  is  not  balanced,  it  is  rather  aggravated,  by  the  fact 
that  our  higher  schools  divide  up  their  instruction  more  and 
more  among  specialists,  and  that  this  process  of  specialization 
is  already  formally  recognized  in  the  existing  rules  for  the  ex- 
amination of  candidates  for  school  positions,  and  threatens  to 
become  still  more  highly  favoured  in  the  new  system  of  rules 
which  is  now  in  preparation. 

If  the  idea  which  controlled  the  organization  of  the  higher 
Realschulen,  that  its  scholars  were  to  have  a  certain  share  in  the 
higher  aims  of  the  Gymnasium,  is  justified,  then  we  cannot  and 
should  not  wish  to  think  of  choosing  other  teachers  for  them 
than  such  as  have  been  prepared  in  the  Gymnasium  for  the 
studies  of  the  University. 

If  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  transplant  our  system  of  education 
altogether  from  classical  to  polytechnic  ground,  then  it  is  doubly 
hazardous,  by  shutting  our  eyes  and  by  the  introduction  of  all 
sorts  of  prejudicial  rules,  to  bring  about  a  result  which  is  not 
intended. 

Upon  the  basis  of  the  preceding  statements,  after  full  and 
thorough    consultation    and    in   accordance    with    a   resolution 


56  OPINION    OF     l880. 

unanimously  adopted,  the  undersigned,  the  members  of  the 
Philosophical  Faculty,  respectfully  address  to  Your  Excellency 
the  request :  — 

"  That  Your  Excellency  will  subject  the  question  of  the  further 
admission  of  graduates  of  Realschulen  to  the  University  to 
renewed  consideration,  having  regard  to  the  objections  here- 
with presented." 

The  Dean  and  Professors  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty  of  the 
Royal  Frederick  -  William   University  of  Berlin. 

Hubner,  Dean.  Wattenbach,  Prodean. 

To  His  Excellency,  Herr  von  Puttkamer, 

Royal  Minister  of  State,  cVv.,  &c. 

The  Faculty  consisted  at  the  time  of  the  framing  of  this 
memorial  of  the  following  members  :  — 

Droysen.  Kummer.  Zeller.  Helmholtz.  Lepsius. 
mommsen.  g.  klrchhoff.         mttllenhoff.         curtius. 

Vahlen.        Peters.        Harms.        Nitzsch.       Wattenbach. 

SCHRADER.  A.  W.  HOFMANN.  WEIERSTRASS.  BeYRICFI. 

A.  Kirchhoff.        Wagner.         von  Treitschke.         Weber. 

schwendener.      scherer.      hubner.      tobler.      elchler. 

Sachau.         Grimm.  Schmidt.         Kiepert.         Websky. 

Rammelsberg.         Foerster.         Zupitza.         Robert. 


NOTES. 


1  Number  of  regular  professors  in  the  four  faculties  of  the  University 

of  Berlin  in  the  years 

Theology.         Law.  Medicine.     Philosophy. 

1810* 3  3  6  13 

1880 7  8  13  38 

2  Robert  von  Mohl,  Die  Polizei-Wissenschaft  nach  den  Grundsatzen 
des  Rechtsstaats.  Tubingen  :  1832.  In  the  edition  which  I  have  at  hand, 
—  the  second,  1844,  —  the  passage  quoted  is  in  Vol.  I.  pp.  518,  519. 

3  A  question  addressed  by  the  Hessian  government  to  the  philosophical 
faculty  of  Giessen  in  the  year  1855,  whether,  in  view  of  the  proportionally 
large  number  of  professors  in  the  faculty  and  of  the  union  of  very  hetero- 
geneous branches  in  their  circle  of  instruction,  it  was  not  advisable  to 
divide  the  faculty  into  several  faculties,  was  answered  by  the  faculty  in 
March,  1 855,  unanimously  in  the  negative.  They  added  that  if  a  divi- 
sion should  nevertheless  take  place,  the  number  of  new  faculties  formed 
should  be  three,  —  one  for  philology,  history,  and  philosophy;  one  for 
mathematics  and  the  natural  sciences ;  and  one  for  political  science.  With- 
out declaring  themselves  permanently  opposed  to  such  a  threefold  division, 
the  faculty  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  introduction  into  Giessen  of  such  a 
threefold  division  before  its  trial  in  other  faculties  was  not  to  be  recom- 
mended. The  senate  on  the  other  hand,  in  May,  1855,  recommended  by  a 
slight  majority  the  threefold  division,  referring  to  the  heterogeneity  of  the 
different  courses  of  study,  and  to  the  importance  of  the  faculty  in  Giessen, 
which  they  thought  could  well  afford  to  risk  making  the  trial.  The  recom- 
mendation was  never  responded  to  by  the  government. 

Almost  twenty  years  later  (March,  1874)  the  rector  called  upon  the  phil- 
osophical faculty  to  declare  their  opinion,  whether  they  thought  a  division 

*  Die  Griindung  der  Koniglichen  Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat  zu  Berlin,  von 
Rudolf  Kopke.    Berlin:  i860. 


58  NOTES. 

expedient.     The   faculty  decided  (July,    1874)   by  eleven  votes  to  six  in 
favour  of  continued  union. 

The  author  is  indebted  to  the  present  rector  of  the  University  of  Gies- 
sen,  Professor  Lothar  Scuffert,  for  these  extracts  from  the  records  of  the 
senate  and  the  philosophical  faculty. 

4  Address  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the  natural  science  faculty  of  the 
University  of  Tubingen  by  Hugo  von  Mohl,  Tubingen,  1863. 

5  For  more  particular  information  concerning  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  separation  of  the  faculty  in  TUbingen  was  accomplished,  the 
author  had  recourse  to  the  present  rector  of  the  university,  Professor  von 
Thudichum'  at  whose  kind  suggestion  the  dean  of  the  philosophical  fac- 
ulty, Professor  E.  Herzog,  with  the  utmost  kindness  took  the  trouble  to 
communicate  the  contents  of  the  reports  in  concise  and  convenient  form. 

With  the  consent  of  my  correspondent  this  communication  is  given 
below :  — 

"The  question  of  the  formation  of  an  independent  natural  science  fac- 
ulty came  up  in  the  summer  of  1859,  on  the  occasion  of  the  installation 
of  a  new  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  chair  of  the  late  Professor  Gmelin, 
while  at  the  same  time  the  assistant  professorship  of  physiological  chemistry, 
already  existing,  was  to  be  raised  to  a  full  professorship.  It  was  on 
this  occasion  that  a  large  majority  of  the  medical  faculty  under  the  lead- 
ership of  the  botanist  Mohl  made  the  proposal  to  establish  at  once  a 
special  faculty  for  the  natural  sciences,  and  to  give  the  two  chemists 
places  in  it.  According  to  the  arrangement  then  existing  at  this  university, 
chemistry,  zoology,  and  botany  belonged  to  the  medical  faculty,  miner- 
alogy, physics,  and  mathematics  to  the  philosophical  faculty. 

"The  following  objections  to  the  existing  arrangement  were  raised  by 
Mohl  as  representative  of  the  medical  faculty.  The  evil  effects  arc,  he  says, 
that  the  instructors  in  the  natural  sciences,  divided  between  two  faculties, 
arc  not  empowered  to  exercise  supervision  over  instruction  in  these  sciences, 
to  determine  the  subjects  upon  which  lectures  arc  to  be  delivered,  to  call 
attention  of  the  government  to  weak  spots,  to  watch  over  the  regular  resump- 
tion of  lectures,  to  bring  compulsion  to  bear  upon  the  hearing  of  lectures  by 
means  uf  examinations,  or  to  make  propositions  looking  to  the  filling  of 
vacant  chairs  and  the  provision  of  books.  There  is  further  reason  to  fear 
that  the  natural  sciences  divided  between  two  faculties  and  in  a  minority 
in  each  will  not  find  the  proper  recognition  of  their  interests,  and  therefore 
it  is  desired  that  an  independent  position  worthy  of  their   great  impor- 


NOTES.  59 

tance  be  given  them  in  a  faculty  of  their  own.  Especially  is  it  emphasized 
as  a  disadvantage,  that  the  natural  science  members  of  the  philosophical 
faculty  are  dependent  in  technical  questions  upon  the  votes  of  colleagues 
who,  being  unfamiliar  with  the  methods  of  investigation  pursued  in  the 
natural  sciences,  cannot  properly  appreciate  their  claims. 

"Against  this  view,  within  the  medical  faculty  itself,  Griesinger,  at  that 
time  clinical  professor  (later  in  Zurich  and  Berlin),  took  his  stand,  and 
denied  in  the  most  decided  manner  the  necessity  of  a  change  in  the 
existing  plan,  and  upheld  the  advantages  of  precisely  such  a  distribution 
of  subjects  as  already  prevailed  at  Tubingen.  The  alleged  disadvan- 
tages, he  declares  in  a  dissenting  vote  of  June  6,  1859,  have  hitherto  made 
their  appearance  only  in  a  slight  degree  or  not  at  all  ;  on  the  contrary, 
in  a  number  of  cases  it  proved  an  advantage  that,  as  in  Tubingen,  chem- 
istry, botany,  and  zoology  should  belong  to  the  medical  faculty,  while 
the  remaining  subjects  were  very  well  off  in  the  philosophical  faculty. 
In  proof  of  this  he  mentions  opinions  on  cases  of  poisoning,  the  regula- 
tion of  medical  examinations,  the  position  occupied  by  pharmacists,  but 
especially  the  necessity  of  giving  medical  men  control  over  the  chemical, 
zoological,  and  botanical  institutes,  in  order  that  there  might  be  no  doubt 
of  their  care  of  what  was  indispensable  to  the  department  of  medicine. 
The  presence  of  representatives  of  the  exact  sciences,  he  says,  in  the  phil- 
osophical faculty  is  a  great  advantage  to  both  parties,  and  especially  to 
philosophy  itself;  moreover,  philology  and  history,  which  are  not  simply 
speculative  branches,  are  represented  in  the  philosophical  faculty.  It 
would  be  a  substantial  disadvantage,  however,  that  the  faculty  to  be 
newly  created  would  have  no  students  of  its  own;  it  would  have  to  bor- 
row its  students  in  the  first  semester  in  the  main  from  the  medical  depart- 
ment; to  what  purpose,  then,  should  we  separate  the  faculties,  if  those  for 
whose  instruction  the  faculties  exist  cannot  be  separated  into  corresponding 
categories?  And  further,  he  says,  it  will  be  seen  that  with  the  addition  of 
this  new  faculty  the  organization  of  the  university  will  become  more  com- 
plicated, much  of  its  business  more  extended,  and  the  system  of  examina- 
tions more  involved;  and  finally  it  is  to  be  noted  that  with  this  new  ar- 
rangement we  should  stand  quite  alone  in  Germany.  The  majority  have 
had  to  seek  an  analogy  for  the  proposed  change  in  the  Dutch  universities, 
but  according  to  his  personal  observation  of  these  universities  there  exists 
no  good  reason  why  their  arrangements  should  be  transplanted  here. 
We  might  rather  say  that  with  a  natural  science  faculty  by  the  side  of  a 
philosophical  faculty  we  should  have  something  like  the  French  faculty 
des  sciences  by  the  side  of  a  faculty  des  lettres ;  but  other,  far  wider  reach- 


60  NOTES. 

ing  changes  in  the  entire  system  of  instruction  would  hinge  upon  the  imi- 
tation of  this  organization,  and  there  is  just  as  little  reason  to  imitate  the 
French  as  the  Dutch  model. 

"  Griesinger's  view  of  the  matter  was  supported  by  the  philosophical 
faculty,  and  this  opposition,  as  was  to  be  expected,  had  the  result  of  con- 
tinuing, at  all  events  for  the  time  being,  the  existing  state  of  affairs.  The 
newly  appointed  chemists  accordingly  were  again  assigned  to  the  medical 
faculty,  while  the  general  and  principal  question  remained  in  abeyance. 
But  in  the  year  1861  a  change  of  government  came  to  the  aid  of  the  view 
held  by  the  Mohl  party.  The  new  minister  of  education,  Golther,  took  up 
the  matter  with  great  zeal,  and  the  struggle  began  again  even  much  more 
actively  than  before.  Griesinger,  to  be  sure,  had  meanwhile  left  Tubingen, 
but  his  dissenting  vote  exerted  an  influence  nevertheless;  and  the  philo- 
sophical faculty,  with  the  exception  of  the  representatives  of  mineralogy 
and  physics,  led  with  great  energy  the  opposition  to  the  propositions  of  the 
medical  faculty,  and  the  advocates  on  both  sides  expressed  themselves  in 
language  the  meaning  of  which  was  in  no  way  doubtful.  The  majority  of 
the  philosophical  faculty  declared  themselves  not  disinclined  to  change  the 
existing  system.  They  did  not,  like  Griesinger,  wish  to  hold  to  the  existing 
division,  which  had  become  planless,  although  in  other  points  they  agreed 
with  him;  but  they  wished  to  adopt  the  arrangement  of  other  German  uni- 
versities, that  is  to  unite  all  the  branches  of  natural  science;  and  at  that 
time  the  senate,  which  consists  with  us  of  all  the  full  professors  of  all  de- 
partments, was  favourable  to  this  proposal.  While  the  philosophical  fac- 
ulty in  this  desire  found  itself  upon  the  same  ground  with  the  medical 
faculty,  in  so  far  as  it  advocated  the  uniting  of  all  natural  science  branches,  it 
emphasized  all  the  more  their  affinity  to  the  whole  complex  body  of  pre- 
paratory studies  for  which  the  philosophical  faculty  is  intended  to  provide. 
The  natural  sciences,  they  said,  had,  as  it  was,  more  than  sufficient  inclina- 
tion to  lose  sight  of  their  relation  to  the  ideal  sciences;  no  encouragement 
should  be  lent  to  this  tendency;  one  need  only  read  the  utterances  of  the 
medical  faculty  on  this  question,  to  see  what  a  spirit  of  misconception 
reign:;  in  it,  indeed  a  spirit  of  depreciation  of  everything  not  tangible, 
and  which  is  not  concerned  with  the  tangible.  The  collegiate  association 
of  different  branches  begets,  they  say,  mutual  tolerance,  and  leaves  no 
room  for  the  delusion  that  only  one  particular  department  of  knowledge 
can  be  justified.  They  then  consider  more  particularly  the  several  branches 
which  it  is  proposed  to  separate  from  the  medical  faculty,  in  order  to  de- 
monstrate how  they  can  be  transferred  without  injury,  and  it  is  further 
pointed  out  that  if  all  the  natural  science  branches  were  included  in  the 


NOTES.  6 1 

philosophical  faculty  they  would  no  longer  be  in  a  minority.  Since  the 
government  had  also  made  inquiry  regarding  the  eventual  division  of 
the  philosophical  faculty  into  two  sections,  this  question  is  also  discussed 
in  detail.  Here,  however,  a  split  occurred  in  the  majority.  Some,  reflect- 
ing that  if  two  sections  should  be  conceded  the  concession  of  complete 
separation  would  become  more  attainable,  would  have  nothing  whatever  to 
do  with  it;  they  believed  this  question  should  be  left  to  the  future,  and  the 
experiment  should  be  first  practically  tried  whether  a  united  philosophical 
and  natural  science  faculty  would  not  answer  every  purpose.  The  others 
were  more  inclined  to  favour  the  formation  of  two  sections.  With  respect 
to  the  general  organization  of  the  university,  however,  it  was  argued  spe- 
cially from  our  peculiar  circumstances  that,  since  forty  years  before  the 
faculty  of  political  science  had  separated  from  the  faculties  of  law  and 
philosophy,  and  then  a  catholic  theological  faculty  had  been  added,  there 
were  already  six  faculties  in  existence,  certainly  more  than  enough;  and 
also  that  the  separation  of  the  political  science  department  had  not  justified, 
itself,  —  against  which  view  this  department,  to  be  sure,  entered  a  decided 
protest.  Finally,  a  private  letter  of  Argelander  from  Bonn,  written  to  the 
mathematical  member  of  the  faculty,  was  added  to  the  opinion  of  the 
faculty  for  the  information  of  the  government.     He  wrote :  — 

".  .  .  '  I  would  give  up  no  one  of  the  outward  marks  which  bear  witness 
to  the  inward  unity  of  the  single  departments  of  knowledge,  and  as  such 
I  regard  the  grouping  in  one  single  faculty  of  all  the  different  methods  of 
pursuing  the  truth.  Besides  that,  however,  in  the  interest  of  our  students 
I  hold  a  division  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  injurious.  Unfortunately  the 
pursuit  of  learning  is  becoming  always  more  and  more  a  matter  of  bread- 
winning,  and  whatever  does  not  serve  this  purpose  is  put  aside ;  but  never- 
theless, through  the  grouping  of  all  departments  of  knowledge  in  one  fac- 
ulty, the  old  tradition  of  their  inherent  connection  is  preserved  at  least  as 
regards  a  number  of  them.  If  this  is  done  away  with,  then  the  last  tie  is 
loosened,  and  instead  of  the  universitas  litterariun  we  shall  finally  have 
only  schools  of  specialties.  Then  farewell  to  love  of  knowledge  for  its  own 
sake,  farewell  to  the  humanities.' 

"  But  all  these  representations  were  of  no  avail.  The  government  soon 
decidedly  inclined  to  the  proposition  of  Mohl,  and  the  senate,  which  had 
been  before  of  the  other  opinion,  likewise  finally  decided  by  a  small 
majority  in  favour  of  a  special  natural  science  faculty.  The  question  then 
alone  remained,  what  subjects  and  what  students  should  be  assigned  to  the 
new  faculty.  In  the  first  respect  mathematics  caused  the  only  difficulties; 
the  mathematical  professor  wished  at  first  to  remain  in  the  philosophical 


62  NOTES. 

faculty,  then  to  belong  to  both;  finally,  however,  he  went  into  the  natural 
science  faculty.  As  to  students,  medical  students  before  the  tentamen 
physicum  and  those  devoting  themselves  specially  to  the  natural  sciences 
were  assigned  to  the  new  faculty,  and  the  students  of  pharmacy  were  made 
Hospilantcn.  This  provision  of  August  5,  1863,  went  into  operation  im- 
mediately with  the  winter  semester  of  1863-64. 

"Our  natural  science  faculty  has  now  been  in  existence  seventeen  years. 
How  far'the  injurious  consequences  which  were  feared  from  the  separation 
have  actually  ensued,  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  judge;  it  has  recently 
become  manifest  that  it  is  less  easy  for  a  university  with  a  separate  natural 
science  faculty  to  maintain,  against  the  claims  of  the  Realschide,  the  require- 
ments heretofore  in  force  for  attendance  at  the  university.  The  faculty 
has  taken  its  place  without  difficulty  in  the  organization  of  the  university, 
and  the  care  of  the  institutes  has  gained  by  it." 

G  The  formation  of  a  faculty  of  natural  sciences  at  the  University  of 
Tubingen  was  provided  for  by  the  ministry  of  education  and  religion  in 
consequence  of  a  decision  of  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Wurttemberg  of 
August  4,  1863  (cf.  notes  4  and  5). 

7  Extract  from  a  letter  of  Professor  Adolf  Lieben  in  Vienna :  — 

"  The  philosophical  department  of  the  Vienna  University,  as  is  the  case 
at  all  the  Austrian  Universities,  is  entirely  united,  and  comprises  philosophy, 
philology,  history,  as  well  as  mathematics  and  all  the  natural  sciences  (ex- 
cept physiology,  which  is  taught  in  the  medical  department  in  connection 
with  anatomy,  pathology,  etc.).  It  has  no  sub-divisions  of  any  kind,  and 
all  the  more  important  affairs  of  the  faculty  are  ultimately  deliberated  upon 
and  decided  in  full  sessions  after  preliminary  treatment  in  committees. 
About  seven  such  sessions  take  place  a  year.  All  current  matters  are  dis- 
posed of  by  the  dean  on  his  own  responsibility.  The  number  of  regular 
professors  in  the  philosophical  faculty  is  at  present  forty-two. 

"  Some  two  years  ago  the  government  propounded  the  question  to  us 
whether  a  division  of  the  philosophical  faculty  would  not  be  advantageous. 
Our  answer,  adopted  by  a  large  majority,  was  to  the  effect  that  we  deemed 
it  judicious  to  abide  by  the  ancient  existing  arrangement. 

"As  regards  the  senate,  that  body  consists  of  fourteen  members,  namely, 
the  rector,  the  prorector,  the  four  deans  (that  is,  of  the  faculties  of 
theology,  law,  medicine,  and  philosophy),  the  four  prodcans,  and  four 
elective  senators,  who  are  elected  to  the  senate  by  the  four  faculties  re- 
spectively for  a  term  of  three  years. 


NOTES.  63 

"The  senate  holds  its  meetings  about  once  a  month.  Its  sphere  of 
influence,  however,  is  actually  a  somewhat  limited  one,  for  all  important,  and 
especially  all  scientific  matters  are  disposed  of  by  the  faculties  independently. 
The  faculties  are  also  accustomed  to  communicate  through  their  deans 
directly  with  the  ministry  of  public  instruction. 

"The  senate,  as  the  highest  academic  authority,  exercises  a  general 
supervision,  administers  established  foundations,  distributes  scholarships, 
remuneration  to  servants,  etc.,  and  cares  for  the  common  concerns 
of  the  university,  while  in  accordance  with  tradition  it  refrains  from  inter- 
fering in  the  affairs  of  the  particular  faculties.  There  is  no  committee  of 
the  senate." 

8  With  regard  to  the  very  instructive  course  of  events  in  Breslau,  I  make 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  Professor  Theodor  Poleck  :  — 

"  In  the  year  1864  a  motion  proposed  by  two  professors  to  establish  here 
in  Breslau  a  faculty  of  natural  sciences  in  accordance  with  the  example  of 
Tubingen  was  rejected  by  the  philosophical  faculty  by  a  very  small  majority. 
The  movers  thereupon  had  recourse  to  the  ministry,  which  likewise  declined 
the  proposal,  but  on  the  other  hand  suggested  a  division  of  the  faculty 
into  sections,  such  as  had  existed  in  Bonn  since  1834  (cf.  note  16),  and 
desired  an  expression  of  opinion  from  the  faculty. 

"  The  consideration  of  this  division  into  sections  occupied  the  faculty  for 
almost  two  years  in  numerous  meetings  of  mixed  commissions  and  of  the 
faculty  itself.  A  great  majority  of  the  members  of  the  faculty  were  in 
favour  of  the  division  into  two  sections.  Many  plans  of  organization  were 
introduced,  bat  when  it  came  to  marking  off  the  rights  and  duties  of 
the  two  sections,  such  great  differences  of  opinion  appeared,  that  the  plan 
of  the  mixed  commission  did  not  command  a  majority.  In  particular  the 
degree  of  independence  which  it  was  proposed  to  give  to  the  single 
sections,  over  against  the  collective  faculty,  found  so  little  favour  with  the 
majority  that  they  finally  to  a  great  extent  lost  sight  of  Jhe.  purpose 
of  fixing  these  details  of  organization  through  resolutions  of  the  faculty. 
It  was  acknowledged  by  a  great  majority  merely  that  the  existing  arrange- 
ment of  the  faculty  needed  improvement,  and  that  this  could  be  attained 
by  a  division  into  two  sections  under  the  same  dean. 

"These  diverging  views  found  expression  in  several  separate  votes,  which 
were  handed  over  to  the  ministry  at  the  same  time.  The  minister  then,  in 
the  rescript  of  July  19,  1866,  formulated  in  a  number  of  propositions  the 
conditions  under  which  he  would  assent  to  such  a  division  of  the  faculty. 


64  NOTES. 

In  these  the  independence  of  the  single  sections  was  reduced  to  a  very 
scanty  measure.     Proposition  4  runs  thus  :  — 

"  'The  dean  shall  communicate  the  resolutions  of  one  section  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  other  section  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  their  vote  in  writing. 
Should  any  resolution  of  one  section  be  sustained  by  at  least  a  third  of 
the  votes  of  the  other  section,  then  it  shall  be  deemed  to  be  a  resolution 
of  the  whole  faculty.  In  the  contrary  case  the  matter  shall  be  made  the 
subject  of  advisement  in  a  general  faculty  meeting,  and  a  vote  shall  be 
taken.  Should  the  resolution  of  the  section  be  in  a  minority  when  this  vote 
is  taken,  then  the  matter  shall  be  laid  before  the  minister  for  decision.' 

"  Under  such  circumstances  the  faculty  resolved  in  the  same  year  to  dis- 
miss from  view  the  plan  of  a  division  and  to  abide  by  the  existing  arrange- 
ment. 

"In  the  year  1873  a  new  motion  looking  to  a  division  of  the  faculty  was 
introduced  by  the  dean.  It  did  not  get  beyond  the  stage  of  a  thorough 
deliberation  in  the  faculty,  and  was  then  by  motion  laid  upon  the  table. 

"The  same  fate  was  experienced  by  the  latest  attempt,  made  last  year, 
which  was  occasioned  by  the  rejection  of  two  warmly  supported  candidates 
for  admission  as  Privatdocenten  in  natural  science,  who  were  turned  aside 
solely  on  the  ground  that  they  had  graduated  at  a  RealschiiL:  There  is  not 
now  sufficient  interest  to  push  the  matter  further,  because  under  the  present 
circumstances  no  result  can  be  reckoned  upon." 

9  I  was  interested  in  making  inquiries  about  the  organization  of 
the  philosophical  faculties  of  all  the  universities,  and  I  am  especially  in- 
debted for  kind  assistance  in  obtaining  information  to  L.  von  Babo  in 
Freiburg,  M.  Carriere  in  Munich,  P.  du  Bois-Reymond  in  TUbingen,  F. 
von  Fcilitzsch  in  Greifswald,  W.  Heintz  in  Halle,  E.  Ilerzog  in  Tubingen, 
A.  Ililger  in  Erlangen,  O.  Jacobsen  in  Rostock,  A.  Kekulo  in  Bonn,  II. 
Kopp  in  Heidelberg,  A.  Ladenburg  in  Kiel,  A.  Lieben  in  Vienna,  W. 
Lossen  in  Konigsberg,  M.  von  Pettenkofer  in  Munich,  Th.  Poleck  in 
Breslau,  E.  Reichardt  in  Jena,  J.  Volhard  in  Erlangen,  E.  Wiedemann  in 
Leipzig,  II.  Will  in  Giessen,  J.  Wislicenus  in  Wurzburg,  F.  Wohler  in  Got- 
tingen,  and  Th.  Zincke  in  Marburg. 

With  the  exception  of  TUbingen  and  Strassburg,  the  philosophical  fac- 
ulties of  all  the  other  universities,  namely,  Berlin,  Bonn,  Breslau,  Erlangen, 
Freiburg,  Giessen,  Gottingen,  Greifswald,  Ilallc,  Heidelberg,  Jena,  Kiel, 
Konigsberg,  Leipzig,  Marburg,  Munich,  Rostock,  and  Wurzburg,  are 
constituted  as  units.  Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  new  organi- 
zation of  the  philosophical  faculties  in  Tubingen  (cf.  su/>ra,  pp.  10  ff.  and 


NOTES.  65 

note  5),  and  in  Strassburg  (cf.  supra,  p.  12  f.  and  note  10).  Some  further 
facts  concerning  the  organization  of  the  philosophical  faculties  in  Bonn 
and  Leipzig  are  given  below  (cf.  note  16). 

Touching  propositions  for  division,  nothing  need  be  added  to  what  has 
already  been  said  about  Giessen,  Munich,  Wiirzburg,  and  Breslau.  As 
regards  the  remaining  universities  my  inquiries  have  had  the  following 
result :  a  proposal  for  a  division  was  made  to  the  minister  of  instruction 
by  the  philosophical  faculty  in  Kiel  in  the  year  1877,  but  no  response 
from  him  has  yet  been  received.  In  the  same  year  Konigsberg  also  made 
a  proposition  for  a  separation  into  two  sections,  each  with  its  own  dean, 
but  retaining  the  faculty  undivided.  It  has  as  yet  remained  unanswered. 
On  the  occasion  of  the  consideration  of  a  new  statute  of  the  philosophical 
faculty  in  Marburg,  likewise  in  the  year  1877,  tne  question  of  division  was 
also  discussed;  it  was,  however,  finally  decided  that  the  faculty  should 
not  be  divided.  In  Bonn,  Leipzig,  and  Freiburg  the  matter  has  merely 
been  discussed.  In  Erlangen,  Gottingen,  Greifswald,  Halle,  Heidelberg, 
Jena,  and  Rostock  no  propositions  have  ever  been  made  up  to  this  time. 

10  A  more  exact  knowledge  of  the  course  of  events  in  Strassburg 
would  seem  to  be  of  especial  interest  for  the  question  under  discussion. 

The  following  presentation  is  taken  from  official  documents,  an  exami- 
nation of  which  the  author  obtained  through  the  kind  intervention  of  the 
imperial  governor  of  Alsace-Lorraine.  A  request  to  that  end  of  August 
19,  directed  to  His  Excellency,  General  Fieldmarshal  Baron  von  Manteuffel, 
was  considered  by  him  with  the  most  obliging  readiness.  As  early  as  Sep- 
tember 13,  the  author  received,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  governor,  through 
the  under  secretary  of  state,  Herr  von  Pommer-Esche,  copies  of  the  follow- 
ing official  documents :  — 

1.  Proposition  of  the  philosophical  faculty  of  the  Strassburg  University 

looking  to  a  separation  into  two  faculties,  addressed  to  the  Impe- 
rial Chancellor  on  February  1,  1873. 

2.  Argument  in  support  of  this  proposition  on  the  part  of  the  rector  and 

senate,  addressed  to  President  Ledderhose,  curator  of  the  Univer- 
sity, on  March  15,  1873. 

From  these  documents  it  appears  that  the  establishment  of  two  separate 
faculties  instead  of  one  united  faculty  had  been  taken  into  consideration 
even  at  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  university,  and  had  already  found 
expression  in  the  budget  for  1872.  In  view  of  these  facts  the  philosophical 
faculty,  or  as  it  was  then  called  the  faculty  of  philosophy  and  the  natural 


66  NOTES. 

sciences,  made  on  July  2,  1872,  a  direct  proposal  to  divide  the  faculty, 
which  was  supported  by  the  senate  on  July  9.  The  report,  however,  said 
that  there  was  some  doubt  whether  such  a  division  should  be  introduced 
"at  that  time  and  as  a  provisional  arrangement,"  especially  seeing  that  a 
considerable  minority  (6  votes  to  10)  had  declared  against  it. 

Six  months  later,  after  the  faculty  had  meanwhile  been  fully  appointed, 
the  question  was  again  taken  into  consideration,  and  out  of  nineteen  mem- 
bers sixteen  voted  for  a  division;  one  refrained  from  voting,  and  of  the  two 
who  voted  against  division  only  one  opposed  it  on  principle,  while  the 
other  declared  himself  opposed  to  division  only  for  the  time  being,  and 
on  grounds  of  expediency.  The  proposition  went  in  this  shape  to  the 
plenary  session  of  the  academic  instructors,  in  which,  out  of  the  fifty-four 
persons  present,  forty-two  decided  in  favour  of  separation,  and  eight  against 
it,  while  three  refrained  from  voting.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
faculty  considered  itself  in  duty  bound  again  to  propose  a  division,  which 
accordingly  was  done  on  February  I,  1873.  The  proposal  of  the  faculty 
was  unanimously  accepted  by  the  senate,  and  on  March  15  it  was  further 
specially  advocated  by  the  rector  in  a  letter  going  thoroughly  into  the 
subject. 

The  reasons  for  a  separation,  which  the  proposal  of  the  faculty  sets 
forth  in  detail,  are  grouped  together  in  four  paragraphs  :  — 

1.  A  division  is  recommended  by  the  absence  of  affinity  between  the 

courses  of  study  represented  in  the  two  parts. 

2.  A  division  endangers  no  particular  profession. 

3.  Enumeration  of  the  evils  of  union. 

4.  Reference  to  the  example  of  Tubingen. 

11  Rusincss  organization  of  the  philosophical  faculty  of  the  Royal  Lud- 
v, •ig-Maximilian  University  of  Munich  :  — 

1.  The  philosophical  faculty,  in  accordance  with  the  ministerial  resolu- 

tions of  May  14,  1865,  and  .September  29, 1873,  is  divided  into  two 
sections,  each  of  which  has  its  special  dean. 

2.  All  full  professors  in  these  sections  are  members  of  the  same  with 

the  right  to  vote  (known  as  Facultistcn'). 

3.  Members  of  the  Inst  section  entitled  to  vote  are  all  l\jcullis!s  who 

have  charge  of  special  branches  in  philology,  philosophy,  or 
history;  to  those  of  the  second  section  belong  all  those  whose 
departments  fall  in  the  domain    of   the    mathematical  or  natural 


NOTES.  6f 

4.  All  Facultists  are  eligible  to  the  office  of  dean  who  have  belonged  to 

the  faculty  exclusively  for  at  least  two  years,  and  who  have  ac- 
quired the  doctor's  degree  of  the  faculty.  The  deahship  changes 
from  one  scholastic  year  to  another  among  those  who  are  eligible 
in  order  according  to  their  time  of  service.  The  office  of  dean 
may  be  declined.  At  the  close  of  each  scholastic  year,  each  sec- 
tion reports  to  the  senate  the  name  of  the  dean  for  the  ensuing 
year.     In  case  of  disability  the  dean  is  represented  by  the  prodean. 

5.  In  each  section  its  dean  has  the  presidency.     The   deans  Tire  desig- 

nated as  "  Dean  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty,  Section  I.,"  and 
"Dean  of  the   Philosophical   Faculty,  Section  II." 

6.  The  dean  of  each  section  keeps  a  record  of  all  communications  re- 

ceived and  documents  sent  out,  and  manages  the  financial  affairs  of 
the  section.  He  issues  its  public  announcements,  corresponds 
under  the  small  seal  of  the  faculty,  and  makes  the  necessary  re- 
ports to  the  senate  in  the  name  of  the  section. 

7.  Matters  which  relate  exclusively  to  the  philosophical,  philogical,  and 

historical,  or  to  the  mathematical  and  natural  science  courses  of 
study  are  considered  and  disposed  of  by  the  section  concerned;  mat- 
ters on  the  other  hand  which  concern  the  general  interest  of  the 
philosophical  faculty  are  disposed  of  in  the  entire  faculty.  In 
joint  sessions  of  the  faculty,  the  older  of  the  two  deans  by  date  of 
service  takes  the  chair.  Upon  him  devolves  also  the  management 
of  matters  under  discussion,  and  the  preparation  of  resolutions,  as 
well  as  the  opening  of  all  communications  addressed  to  the  entire 
faculty,  and  their  distribution  to  the  sections  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  subject.  Communications  which  concern  the  faculty  as  a 
body,  or  are  of  general  interest,  if  there  does  not  happen  to  be 
a  general  session  at  the  time,  are  transmitted  to  both  sections  in 
their  sessions.  In  case  of  inability  to  act,  the  older  dean  in  office 
is  represented  by  the  younger. 

12  Respecting  the  organization  of  the  philosophical  faculty  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wiirzburg,  the  present  rector,  Professor  Johannes  Wislicenus, 
writes  to  me  :  — 

"  The  organization  of  our  philosophical  faculty  is  like  that  in  Munich, 
that  is,  we  have  two  sections  (one  for  philosophy,  philology,  and  history, 
and  one  for  mathematics  and  the  natural  sciences) ;  both,  however,  have 
together  only  one  dean,  who  is  taken  from  each  by  turn. 


68  NOTES. 

The  common  dean  takes  the  presidency  in  the  separate  meetings  of  the 
two  sessions,  and  even  at  examinations  for  the  doctor's  degree.  Our  experi- 
ence however  is,  it  must  be  admitted,  unfavourable  to  the  whole  arrange- 
ment. The  division  of  the  faculty  was  a  half  measure.  There  has  been  of 
course  no  increase  in  mutual  understanding,  or  in  interest  for  the  needs  of 
the  other  side  on  the  part  of  the  dean.  A  great  evil,  and  one  which  a 
year  ago  made  itself  sharply  felt,  lies  in  the  loss  of  all  influence  of  the 
mathematical  and  natural  science  section  in  appointments  to  the  chair  of 
philosophy.  Our  request  to  be  heard  in  this  matter  was  simply  declined 
by  the  sister  section  without  explanation;  so  that  in  the  senate  we  had  to 
enter  into  a  certain  opposition.  We  have  in  fact  only  the  dean,  the  title 
of  doctor,  and  the  graduation  fees  in  common;  otherwise  we  have  become 
almost  more  estranged  than  is  well.  If  there  is  to  be  separation,  then  a 
radical  separation  is  certainly  best.  The  sectional  separation  began  in 
the  year  1875." 

,3  On  the  Advisability  of  Establishing  Special  Faculties  of  Natural 
Science,  by  Professor  Dr.  P.  du  Bois-Reymond,  Alma  Mater,  Organ  fur 
Hochschulen,  Dec.  7,  1876. 

The  author  of  this  paper,  which  takes  up  the  question  in  a  general 
way,  mentions  only  in  passing  the  experiments  in  Tubingen.  Speak- 
ing of  these,  he  says : 

"As  far  as  our  university  is  immediately  concerned,  it  is  in  some 
measure  protected  against  the  disadvantages  which  the  division  of  the 
faculty  may  entail  by  the  peculiar  arrangement  of  its  Great  Senate;  and 
consequently  in  pronouncing  upon  the  question  generally  we  cannot  prop- 
erly use  the  experiments  made  in  it  as  a  foundation.  I  must  recognize 
with  approval  the  lessening  of  the  burden  of  business  which  falls  to  the 
individual  instructor.  The  time  which  a  full  professor  must  expend  in  at- 
tending faculty  meetings  will  be  indeed,  generally  speaking,  proportional 
to  the  number  of  members  in  his  faculty.  Vet  I  am  able  to  praise  that 
feature  thus  almost  unreservedly,  only  because  I  see  how  our  seven  small 
faculties  are  by  means  of  the  Great  Senate  swallowed  up  again,  as  it  were, 
in  a  single  large  faculty  uniting  all  the  instructors  of  the  university; 
whereby,  to  be  sure,  the  saving  of  time  which  I  have  mentioned  may  be 
again  put  in  question.  We  must  look  to  the  arrangement  of  the  Great 
Senate  to  find  the  reason  why  the  fears  expressed  by  Griesingcr  in  his  dis- 
senting vote  (cf.  note  5)  and  by  K.  du  Bois-Reymond  in  his  rector's  ad- 
dress (cf.  note  19)  have  not  up  to  this  time  been  realized  with  us;  while 
on  the  other  hand  also  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  great  expectations  of 


NOTES.  69 

H.  von  Mohl  have  not  so  far  been  fulfilled,  but  with  the  exception  of  a 
change  in  the  mode  of  transacting  business,  everything  remains  as  it  was 
before. 

I  am,  however,  decidedly  opposed  to  dividing  the  philosophical  faculty 
into  two  parts  in  universities  which  do  not  already  possess  or  cannot  intro- 
duce a  compensation  in  the  Great  Senate.  I  reject  this  division  for 
reasons  similar  to  those  mentioned  by  E.  du  Bois-Reymond  in  his  in- 
augural address,  and  I  shall  meet  here  in  a  few  words  the  objections 
which  are  raised  against  the  principle  of  integral  philosophical  faculties." 

It  is  asserted,  the  author  goes  on  to  say,  that  the  principle  of  the  union 
of  the  ideal  sciences  in  one  faculty  is  not  practicable  in  the  long  run  be- 
cause new  domains  are  constantly  opening  to  ideal  investigation,  and 
these  would  then  have  to  be  incorporated  into  this  faculty.  In  this  situa- 
tion would  be  found,  for  instance,  physiology,  which  is  to-day  not  less  an 
independent  science  than  physics  and  chemistry.  He  says  that  this  objec- 
tion, however,  is  weak,  because  the  natural  science  faculty,  if  made  an 
offshoot,  would  also  have  to  be  continually  enlarged  ;  that  meanwhile,  in 
all  classifications,  it  is  far  easier  to  set  up  the  principle  of  division  than  to 
define  its  limits. 

The  author  then  speaks  of  the  supposed  injuries  which  are  said  to 
accrue  to  the  natural  sciences  from  association  with  the  philosophical 
sciences.  No  case  is  known  to  him  in  which  the  representatives  of  the 
natural  sciences  have  been  outvoted  by  the  representatives  of  philosophy. 
He  believes  on  the  contrary  that  the  united  faculty  will  have  a  clearer 
perception  of  the  interests  of  both  parts  than  each  part  separately 
would  have  of  its  own.  The  author  recognizes  the  possibility  of  lightening 
the  burden  of  business,  but  sees  a  natural  expedient  in  the  formation  of 
standing  or  provisional  committees.  Finally,  he  sees  in  the  union  on  prin- 
ciple of  the  instructors  in  all  the  independent  sciences  the  only  means  of 
defending  the  legitimate  sphere  of  the  university  in  the  field  of  higher 
instruction  against  the   encroachments  of  the  polytechnic  schools. 

14  The  constitution  of  the  senate  varies  more  or  less  in  the  different 
German  universities,  and  accordingly  its  sphere  of  activity  is  more  or  less 
different. 

The  University  of  Berlin  has  a  senate,  called  the  Little  Senate,  consisting 
of  the  rector,  the  university  judge,  the  prorector,  the  four  deans,  and  five 
members  chosen  from  the  ranks  of  the  full  professors.  The  rector,  with 
the  five  members  last  mentioned,  is  chosen  by  the  assembly  of  all  the  full 
professors  by  a  simple  majority  vote.     The  business  of  the  senate  consists 


JO  NOTES. 

in  the  management  of  general  university  affairs,  in  the  distribution  of  cer- 
tain scholarships  and  of  wages  to  functionaries,  and  finally  in  the  exercise 
of  the  academical  jurisdiction  so  far  as  it  still  exists. 

The  senate  of  the  University  of  Bonn  is  similarly  constituted;  there,  how- 
ever, since  five  faculties  are  represented  by  deans,  only  four  additional 
senators  are  chosen  from  the  full  professors.  The  manner  of  election  is 
also  the  same. 

The  senate  of  the  University  of  Breslau  consists  of  fifteen  senators. 
This  larger  number  is  occasioned  by  the  circumstance  that  there  are  five 
faculties,  and,  besides,  seven  senators  are  chosen. 

The  senate  of  the  University  of  Halle  is  like  that  of  Berlin  in  its  con- 
stitution. Moreover,  the  General  Council  still  exists,  which  consists  of  all 
the  full  professors,  and  receives  reports  of  the  transactions  of  the  senate 
in  sessions  which  are  held  four  times  a  year.  The  elections  for  the  senate 
are  also  had  in  this  council. 

What  has  been  said  of  Halle  applies  exactly  to  Konigsberg;  likewise 
to  Greifswald  and  Kiel,  except  that  at  the  former  the  senate  consists  of 
eleven  members,  and  the  general  assembly  of  full  professors  is  called  there 
the  Academic  Council,  while  the  senate  of  the  latter  counts  ten  members 
and  is  called  the  Academic  Consistorium. 

The  two  remaining  Prussian  universities,  Gottingcn  and  Marburg,  have 
the  Great  Senate,  which  consists  of  all  full  professors.  In  Gottingen, 
in  addition  to  the  senate,  there  is  the  Administrative  Committee,  which 
is  made  up  of  the  prorector,  and  ex-prorector,  a  representative  of  each 
faculty,  and  both  university  councilors.  Here  the  assistant  professors  also 
have  part  in  the  election  of  the  prorector.  In  Marburg  the  University 
Deputation  exercises  functions  by  the  side  of  the  senate,  and  consists  of 
the  rector  and  four  members  of  the  senate,  one  of  whom  goes  out  every 
year,  and  from  whom  the  rector  is  chosen. 

The  new  imperial  University  of  Strassburg  on  the  other  hand  has  a 
Little  Senate,  which  like  that  of  Berlin  consists  of  twelve  members,  the 
rector  and  prorector,  the  deans  of  the  five  faculties,  and  finally  representa- 
tives from  each  of  these  five  faculties. 

The  majority  of  the  non-Prussian  universities  have  the  Little  Senate. 

Thus  the  University  of  Rostock  has  the  concilium  arctins,  which  con- 
sists of  the  rector,  the  cx-rector,  the  rector  desi^natus,  and  the  assessor 
perpetuus.  Moreover  the  concilium  plenum  is  still  in  existence,  compris- 
ing all  the  full  professors. 

The  arrangements  in  Leipzig  are  coincident  with  those  of  Berlin. 
Besides  the  rector,  the  prorector,  the  deans  of  the  four  faculties,  and  the 


NOTES.  7 1 

full  professor  of  the  faculty  of  law,  the  senate  embraces  in  addition  five 
elected  representatives  of  the  faculties,  two  of  whom  are  chosen  from  the 
philosophical  faculty.  Moreover,  the  united  body  of  full  professors 
exercises  functions. 

The  Bavarian  universities  have  partly  the  Little,  partly  the  Great  Senate. 

The  senate  of  the  University  of  Munich  consists  of  twelve  members,  who 
arc  elected  in  general  session  by  the  whole  body  of  professors  (full  and 
assistant),  but  in  such  a  manner  that  four  representatives  fall  to  the  philo- 
sophical faculty,  which  consists  of  two  sections,  and  two  to  each  of  the 
four  other  faculties.  The  deans  are  therefore  not  co  ipso  members,  as  at 
most  of  the  other  universities.  The  senators  are  chosen  for  two  years; 
every  year  half  the  representation  of  each  faculty  is  renewed  by  election. 
Whoever  abstains  from  the  election  without  sufficient  excuse  pays  a  forfeit 
of  three  ducats.  By  the  side  of  the  senate,  and  co-ordinate  with  it,  is  the 
Administrative  Committee  composed  of  six  members,  which  has  charge  of 
all  questions  of  finance.  The  University  of  Munich  has  a  large  foundation, 
establishment,  possesses  very  large  forest  lands,  and  needs  therefore  such 
an  administrative  body.  The  administrative  committee  makes  up  the 
budget  every  year  for  the  particular  departments.  The  members  cf  the 
administrative  committee  are  likewise  chosen  in  the  general  session  of  full 
and  assistant  professors. 

The  organization  of  the  senate  of  Wurzburg  is  like  that  of  Munich,  only 
the  distribution  is  somewhat  different.  The  theological  faculty  sends  two, 
the  faculties  of  law  and  medicine  each  three,  and  the  philosophical  faculty 
four  representatives  to  the  senate.  There  is  also  an  Administrative  Com- 
mittee like  that  in  Munich. 

Erlangen  on  the  other  hand  has  the  Great  Senate,  to  which  all  the 
members  of  the  different  faculties  belong.  Every  full  professor  who  has 
delivered  his  inaugural  address  is  a  member  of  the  faculty.  By  the  side 
of  the  prorector,  who  occupies  the  chair,  stands  the  prochancellor,  who 
votes  first  in  all  deliberations  in  the  senate.  The  prochancellorship 
changes  every  two  years  among  members  of  the  law  faculty.  By  the  side  of 
the  senate  is  the  Administrative  Committee,  as  in  Munich  and  Wurzburg, 
which  consists  of  one  member  from  each  of  the  four  faculties,  and  has 
the  prorector  for  president.  Its  members  are  chosen  by  the  senate;  the 
committee  acts  independently  of  the  senate.  The  committee  with  the  aid  cf 
delegates  of  the  faculties  makes  up  the  university  budget,  which  must  be  ap- 
proved however  by  the  senate.  For  the  exercise  of  the  disciplinary  power 
there  is  a  disciplinary  committee,  which  is  likewise  chosen  by  the  senate. 

At  the  University  of  Tubingen  in  Wurttemberg  there  is  a  Great  Senate 


72  NOTES. 

as  in  Erlangen,  composed  of  all  the  full  professors  who  have  delivered 
their  inaugural  addresses  together  with  the  chancellor  of  the  university, 
the  university  magistrate  (called  also  Syndicus),  and  a  keeper  of  the 
records,  who  has  no  vote. 

In  the  two  universities  of  Baden,  Heidelberg  and  Freiburg,  the  arrange- 
ments differ.  In  Heidelberg  the  authority  which  represents  the  university 
and  has  the  deciding  power  in  most  cases  is  the  Lesser  Senate,  composed 
of  the  prorector  (the  grand  duke  is  rector),  the  ex-prorector,  the  four 
deans,  and  two  full  professors  chosen  from  the  Great  Senate,  each  for  one 
year.  The  senate  consists  of  all  active  full  professors  (not  those  on  the 
retired  list).  To  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  Great  Senate  belong  the 
decision  of  proposals  for  new  regulations  and  new  permanent  arrange- 
ments (foundation  of  chairs  of  instruction,  institutes,  etc.) ;  other  matters 
may  be  brought  before  it,  if  the  Lesser  Senate  so  directs,  or  if  twelve  active 
full  regular  members  make  the  proposition. 

In  Freiburg  there  is,  properly  speaking,  only  the  Little  Senate,  in  which 
the  rector  and  ex-prorector  sit,  and  four  full  professors  representing  the 
four  faculties.  Only  important  matters  affecting  the  interests  of  the  uni- 
versity come  before  the  whole  body  of  full  professors. 

It  only  remains  to  note  that  the  Hessian  University  of  Giessen  possesses 
(in  accordance  with  the  statute  of  January  I,  1 880)  an  organization  just 
like  that  of  Heidelberg.  The  Collective  Senate,  as  it  is  there  called,  con- 
sists of  all  full  professors;  the  Lesser  Senate,  of  the  rector,  the  ex-rector, 
the  chancellor,  and  six  members  to  be  chosen  by  the  Collective  Senate  out 
of  its  midst  for  two  years,  of  whom  one  each  belongs  to  the  faculties  of 
theology,  law,  and  medicine,  and  three  to  the  philosophical  faculty. 

The  University  of  Jena,  finally,  has  only  the  Great  Senate,  consisting  of 
all  full  professors.  Matters  of  administration  as  well  as  those  of  discipline 
are  the  care  of  special  senate  committees. 

13  Sur  les  hautes  Etudes  Pratiques  dans  les  Universit£s  Allemandes 
Rapport  presente  a  son  Exc.  le  Ministre  de  l'lnstruction  publique  par  M. 
Adolphe  Wurtz,  membre  de  l'Academie  des  Sciences.     Paris:   1870. 

Delle  Scienze  Sperimentali  e  in  particolare  della  Chimica  in  Gennania. 
Rilazione  rimessa  a  Sua  Excellenza  il  Ministro  della  pubblica  Istruzione 
nell'  anno  1871  dal  Giorgio  Roster.     Milano  :   1872. 

Compare  also :  The  Chemical  Laboratories  of  the  Universities  of  Bonn 
and  Berlin.  Report  addressed  to  the  Right  Honourable  the  Lords  of  the 
Committee  of  Her  Majesty's  Most  Honourable  Privy  Council  on  Education 
by  A.  W.  Hc.fmann,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.     London:   1866. 


NOTES.  JZ 

16  Concerning  the  very  noteworthy  organization  of  the  philosophical 
faculty  in  Bonn,  Professor  Aug.  Kekule  writes  me  the  following :  — 

"  The  organization  of  our  faculty  is  in  fact  still  precisely  what  it  was  as 
fixed  by  the  statutes  of  1834.  The  faculty  has  one  dean.  It  is  divided  (§5) 
into  four  divisions  or  sections,  of  which  each  has  its  president.  These  four 
sections  are  the  philosophical,  the  philogical,  one  for  history  and  political 
science,  and  one  for  mathematics  and  the  natural  sciences.  The  business 
of  the  faculty  relates  (§  3)  either  to  general  matters  (choice  of  dean, 
granting  of  scholarships,  distribution  of  academical  honors,  etc.)  or  to 
special  matters,  to  which  belong  particularly  proposals  for  filling  vacant 
professorships  and  for  promotion  of  Privatdocenien,  and  the  regulation  of 
prizes. 

General  matters  are  decided  by  the  entire  faculty  in  the  manner  pre- 
scribed in  §  4.  In  special  matters  (§  7)  the  members  of  the  section  first 
vote ;  a  sectional  decision  however  cannot  be  executed  without  consulta- 
tion with  the  faculty.  After  this  consultation,  which  in  important  questions 
(and  especially  therefore  in  cases  of  appointments  to  be  made)  always 
takes  place  in  a  full  session  and  on  the  basis  of  a  written  and  oral  sectional 
report,  the  members  of  the  section,  likewise  in  a  full  session  of  the  faculty, 
proceed  to  a  final  vote.  Thus  in  all  special  matters  only  the  members  of 
the  section  concerned  have  a  deciding  voice,  the  remaining  members  of  the 
faculty  have  only  a  consulting  voice.  The  resolution  of  a  section,  passed 
after  consultation  with  the  full  faculty,  has  the  force  of  a  resolution  of  the 
faculty.  I  have  no  knowledge  of  any  official  proposal  ever  having  been 
made  looking  to  a  change  in  this  arrangement  and  specifically  to  a  division 
of  the  faculty.  I  am  well  aware  that  there  has  sometimes  been  talk  of  it, 
even  in  sessions  of  the  faculty,  but  it  would,  I  think,  never  have  had  a 
majority,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  our  arrangement  has  no  serious  disad- 
vantages." 

The  organization  of  the  Leipzig  philosophical  faculty  resembles  some- 
what that  of  Bonn.  This  faculty  is,  as  has  been  already  observed  (cf.  note 
9),  a  unit;  except  that  three  permanent  sections  have  been  gradually 
formed  in  it:  I.  a  philological  section,  2.  a  section  for  history  and  phil- 
osophy, 3.  a  section  for  mathematics  and  the  natural  sciences.  These 
sections,  however,  are  not  divided  by  a  strongly  marked  line,  but  in  pro- 
nouncing opinions  on  dissertations,  and  in  other  such  matters,  the  section 
immediately  concerned  often  reinforces  itself  by  calling  in  help  from  the 
remaining  sections. 

17  Curturgeschichte    und    Naturwissenschaft.      Lecture,    delivered    on 


74  NOTES. 

March  24  before  the  Society  for  Lectures  on  Scientific  Subjects  in  Cologne, 
by  E.  du  Bois-Reymond.     Second  edit.,  p.  42. 

18  In  fact,  if.  it  were  a  question  of  beginning  to-day  to  found  universi- 
ties, no  one  would  think  of  welding  together  the  philosophical  and  histori- 
cal branches  and  the  mathematical  and  natural  science  branches  in  a 
single  faculty.  Or  is  it  not  agreed  that  the  latter  have  a  much  nearer 
affinity  in  matter  and  methods  to  medicine,  a  natural  science  developed 
toward  a  special  object,  than  to  the  branches  which  are  now  grouped 
with  them?  And  that,  on  the  other  hand,  history  and  philosophy  have 
many  more  points  of  contact  with  theology  and  jurisprudence  than  with  the 
natural  sciences?  (Proposal  of  the  Philosophical  Faculty  of  the  University 
of  Strassburg  for  a  division  into  two  faculties.     Cf.  note  9.) 

19  The  philosophical  faculty  forms  the  connecting  link  between  the 
remaining  faculties,  ...  if  it  were  split,  it  might  refuse  to  perform  this 
mediatory  service.  For  it  is  unmistakable  that  the  connection  of  the 
groups  into  which  it  would  fall  asunder  would  be  less  close  than  that  of 
the  philosophical  group  /cot'  tloxhv  with  the  faculties  of  theology  and  law, 
or  of  the  natural  science  group  with  the  faculty  of  medicine,  and  a  most 
alarming  impulse  would  be  given  to  the  separation  of  the  united  university 
into  single  special  schools,  as  happened  in  Paris.  The  reciprocal  action  of 
the  different  branches  of  human  knowledge  which  takes  place  within  the 
philosophical  faculty  would  naturally  be  lost  with  its  division,  but  this 
mutual  influence  contributes  very  much  to  widen  the  vision  of  the  indi- 
vidual, and  to  preserve  in  him  a  right  judgment  of  his  position  in  relation 
to  the  whole.  The  two  divisions  of  the  faculty  would  finally  approach  the 
character  of  special  schools;  the  ideal  stamp  of  the  whole  would  be  de- 
stroyed.    (E.  du  Bois-Reymond,  Rector's  Address,  1869,  p.  11.) 

,J0  It  is  true  also  that  we  cannot  dispense  with  English;  and  I  should 
be  reconciled  to  losing  it  in  a  Realgymnasium  only  on  condition  of  gain- 
ing in  another  direction  a  substitute  for  it  of  greater  value.  And  I  take 
the  liberty  of  expressing  still  another  wish  here,  which  would  not  be  impos- 
sible of  fulfilment. 

I  mean  instruction  in  Greek.  To  have  read  Homer  quickens  one's 
life.  The  face  of  a  gray-headed  public  servant,  upon  which  the  pencil  of 
time  has  engraved  the  unmistakable  traces  of  official  monotony,  will 
lighten,  if  perchance  the  full-sounding  hexameter  of  the  Iliad  strikes 
unexpectedly  upon  his  ear.     It  is  as  though  his  youth  sudddenly  flickered 


NOTES.  75 

up  again  within  him.  What  the  Bible  is  to  the  common  people,  such  is 
in  many  respects  Homer  to  the  educated. 

If  Greek  should  be  introduced  in  the  upper  division  of  the  Realgymna- 
sium,  then  it  would  take  a  long  step  nearer  its  ideal.  In  proportion  as 
instruction  in  Latin  receded  in  importance,  Greek  might  furnish  an  equiva- 
lent in  the  philological  balance  of  the  Realgymnasium.  And  for  this  price 
I  would  willingly  drop  English  as  an  obligatory  branch.  The  evil  would 
in  fact  be  remedied  if  a  twofold  division  of  pupils  in  the  upper  Gymna- 
sium were  made,  one  of  those  who  study  English  and  another  of  those 
who  study  Greek.  All  the  remaining  branches  of  instruction  might  remain 
the  same.  This  idea  is  the  more  feasible,  since  Class  VII.  is  already 
divided  into  two  parallel  courses. 

Should  four  hours  a  week  for  four  years  be  set  aside  for  Greek,  it  would 
be  easy  to  bring  the  pupils  to  such  a  point  that  they  could  read  the  Iliad 
or  the  Odyssey  in  the  IX.  and  X.  Classes.  To  be  sure  it  would  not  do  to 
pursue  Greek  with  the  same  intent  and  by  the  same  methods  as  in  the 
Gymnasium  ;  that  would  of  course  be  impossible,  if  for  no  other  reason, 
because  of  the  more  advanced  age  of  the  pupils.  Above  all,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  give  special  attention  to  exegesis,  and  composition  would 
have  to  serve  principally  as  an  aid  to  practice  in  forms  and  elementary 
syntax.  It  is  true  that  the  task  of  those  who  chose  Greek  instead  of  Eng- 
lish would  be  harder.  But  this  assumption  of  a  greater  burden  would  be 
voluntary,  and  those  who  elected  Greek  would  be  richly  repaid  by  the 
pleasure  which  Homer  would  some  time  give  them. 

I  may  also  mention  here  this  practical  advantage,  that  students  intend- 
ing to  study  medicine  would  be  able  to  make  their  way  so  much  the  more 
easily  through  the  Realgymnasium.  There  is  no  wish  more  natural  than 
that  they  should  be  able  to  avail  themselves  of  this  means  of  preparation 
for  their  university  studies.  Is  not  the  Realgymnasium  as  it  has  just  been 
described  peculiarly  fitted  to  be  a  preparatory  school  for  the  study  of  medi- 
cine? But  the  further  exposition  of  the  thought  in  detail  does  not  belong 
in  this  place,  and  I  content  myself  therefore  with  having  indicated  it  here. 
(Dillman,  Program  of  the  Royal  Realgymnasium  in  Stuttgart  at  the  close 
of  the  Scholastic  Year  1871-72,  p.  24.) 

21  The  results  of  the  investigation  are  communicated  in  a  publication 
entitled  "  Academic  Opinions  on  the  Admission  of  Graduates  of  Realschu- 
len  to  the  Studies  of  the  University  Departments.  Berlin:  1870."  The 
following  table  presents  the  results  in  tabular  form :  — 


76 


NOTES. 


Faculty  of  Theology. 

Faculty  of 
Law. 

Faculty  of 
Medicine. 

Faculty  of 
Philosophy. 

Berlin     .     . 

Decided  refusal 

Decided 
refusal 

Refusal 

Decided 
refusal 

Bonn      .     . 

Evangel. 
Refusal 

Cathol. 
Decided 
refusal 

Refusal 

Refusal 

Decided 
refusal 

Breslau  .     . 
Gottingen   . 

Evangel. 
Refusal 

Refusal 

Cathol. 

Refusal 

Unanimous 
refusal 

Admission 

Decided 
refusal 

Admission 
(by  small 

Refusal  (by 
small     ma- 
jority) 
Conditional 
admission 

Greifswald  . 

Refusal 

Unanimous 
refusal 

majority) 
Admission 

Conditional 
admission 

Halle      .     . 

Refusal 

Refusal 

Refusal 

Conditional 
admission 

Kiel  .     .     . 

Refusal 

Refusal 

Admission 

Refusal 

Konigsberg 
Marburg 

Refusal 
Refusal 

Admission 
Refusal 

Admission 

Refusal  (two 
dissenting 
votes) 

Admission 
(dissenting 
vote) 
Admission 

Of  38  faculties,  from  which  opinions  were  obtained,  27  voted  for  re- 
fusal, 8  for  admission,  and  3  for  conditional  admission. 
Arranged  according  to  faculties,  the  votes  stand  as  follows :  — 

Refusal.  Admission.        Conditional. 

11  Faculties  of  Theology  ....     11  o  o 

9  Faculties  of  Law 7  2  o 

9  Faculties  of  Medicine  ....       5  4  o 

9  Faculties  of  Philosophy     ...       4  2  3 

If  the  single  universities  are  compared  with  one  another,  we  have  the 
following  results :  —  Conditional 

Refusal.  Admission.  admission. 

Berlin 4  o  o 

Bonn 

Breslau 

( iottingen 

( ircifswald 

Halle 

Kiel 

Konigsberg I 

Marburg 3 


27 


8 


NOTES.  77 

22  It  might  seem  that  the  lower  grade  of  training  of  the  Realschiller  in 
one  branch  of  study  would  be  compensated  for  by  greater  proficiency  in 
another.  The  Realschnle  fixes  a  higher  standard  in  mathematics  certainly, 
but  the  end  which  it  attains  always  depends  finally  on  the  personality  of 
the  teacher;  there  are  Gymnasia  which  accomplish  just  as  much  ;  and  on 
the  whole  the  start  gained  by  the  average  Realschiller,  so  far  as  concerns 
his  ability  to  acquire  the  higher  mathematics,  is  insignificant.  In  regard  to 
the  natural  sciences,  the  most  notable  of  our  chemists  and  physicists,  as 
well  as  the  representatives  of  the  other  departments,  agree  that  the  students 
from  the  Gymnasia  on  the  average  accomplish  more.  It  is  the  general 
experience  that  the  foretaste  of  these  sciences  obtained  in  the  Realschnle 
frequently  dulls  rather  than  stimulates  eagerness  for  knowledge.  (Opinion 
of  the  Berlin  Philosophical  Faculty.      Vide  supra,  p.  40.) 

The  medical  faculty  and  the  mathematical  and  natural  science  mem- 
bers of  the  philosophical  faculty  have  expressed  themselves  unanimously  to 
the  effect  that  a  preparation  in  the  natural  sciences  acquired  at  the  Real- 
schnle or  elsewhere  does  not  prove  so  advantageous  for  the  pursuit  of 
corresponding  studies  at  the  university  as  was  to  be  expected.  Lack  of 
idealistic  impulse,  a  tradesmanlike  narrowness,  overrating  of  knowledge 
already  acquired,  above  all,  indifference  to  the  charm  of  natural  phenom- 
ena,—  easily  outweigh  the  advantages  which  might  accrue  from  being  early 
engaged  in  the  observation  of  nature.  (Report  of  the  Rector  and  Senate 
of  the  University  of  Berlin.     Akademische  Gutachten,  p.  23.) 

23  The  teachers  in  Realschulen,  because  they  work  for  the  general  edu- 
cation of  the  higher  industrial  classes,  and  must  therefore  have  an  appre- 
ciation of  the  demands  which  their  position  in  life  makes  upon  those  who 
belong  to  these  classes,  do  not  belong  to  these  classes  themselves.  Like 
the  Gymnasium  teachers,  they  have  to  make  use  of  science  as  a  means  of 
education,  and  should  therefore,  like  them,  receive  a  classical  training, 
that  is,  be  fitted  for  their  profession  through  the  Gymnasium  and  the  uni- 
versity. (H.  Kern,  Vierter  Jahresbericht  iiber  die  Louisenstadtische  Ge- 
werbeschule  zu  Berlin,  1869,  p.  13.) 


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